Preventing Autism 102

Quinn is about to turn 2. By the time his big brother Kai was 2, we were starting on our journey into autism. We can't help compare. Autism is too serious not to.

Quinn's c-section started off perfectly. He was somehow lodged in so deeply they had to use a vacuum to assist his exit. That is, a vacuum-assisted c-section. He did not cry right away. All you have when you are laying there is waiting to hear the baby's cry. I waited, waited, waited and there it was WAAAAAAAAA WAAAAAAAAA WAAAAAAAAAAA. What an incredible feeling! I can finally take a deep breath and relax. I made it. 

And just like that my bubble was popped. 

The neurologist on call stuck her face too close to mine to say: "Mom, we are going to take him for some testing and observation." Huh? What is going on? Of course, I was half drugged and out of it. The surgeon finished my surgery, as I stayed there helpless. The hubby had instructions to follow Quinn at all costs.

All I wanted was to hear him cry and know he was OK. Now, this. In the recovery room, I stayed with one of my friends. We did not talk about the birth in detail. She was not saying much, and I was this drunken woman trying to slur my words and make sense. When was this woozy feeling going to leave? My husband finally appeared after what seemed like hours. He promised they would bring the baby soon. I asked him what had happened. He said, "Something is wrong, we don't know what." I asked " Down Syndrome?" (because my BIL has DS) and he said, " I don't know." Speechless. I still felt drugged from the surgery, but I knew this sucked.

To fast-forward through the drama that was the delivery, here is the shorter version. When he was born they felt his head was too big, his ears too low, had an undescended testicle, and because he has a patch of blond hair on one side, something could be wrong. They took precautions, did a sonogram and drew blood for genetic testing. All eventually came back normal. He had a little bit of jaundice and had to go home with a bile-blanket. He had to go in daily to get his blood tested etc. I was anxious for this to be over to finally enjoy my baby! Well, he is going to be 2, and I still have not been able to rest and enjoy him like a typical mom.

He has always been way below the average percentile. Steadily growing but way low in height and weight. It felt like it took forever for him to reach 10lbs. Trying to join programs like My Gym or Gymboree was useless because he was never in his age group and could never participate.

He did not sit until he was about 11 months, babbling started at 12 months, pulled to knees at 21 months and just now at 22 months started to crawl. It has been a long year of OT, PT, and ST. He has been to three pediatricians, an orthopedic surgeon, a hematologist, urologist and a neurologist. All testing comes back normal, and the only explanation is that he is hypotonic: low muscle toned. In my research obsession, while reading on autism for Kai, I found an article that most kids with autism have an MTHFR mutation. I had Quinn tested for it, and it was positive. Took it to the neurologist who was more insulted that I had found that before he did than worried about what it could mean. Really, dude? Ultimately, the hematologist said most people have a mutation and don't know it, was not concerned and sent me on my way.

We live day in and out watching for autism clues. We worry that he doesn't point although his occupational and physical therapists both assure me that he could not possibly point because that entails isolating his finger and he is not there yet physically. It seems that he is delayed in all areas equally. He is not a cuddler who lays his head on your shoulder or chest often. The only other thing of concern is crossing of his legs when on the high chair and mounting his middle finger on his index finger on occasion. Subtle. Does it mean anything? Who the heck knows? Maybe I am looking too much into every single thing.

Here is what we know: He is awesome! He is a very social baby. He loves to smile at everyone, wave hello and goodbye, sign for 'all done' and 'more', loves hugs, kisses and has amazing eye contact. Does not cry at sudden sounds, is OK with change, eats pretty much anything, loves getting messy and textures. He notices small sounds and is always happy. The best part of my day is going into his room in the morning. He always has a huge smile for me and is so genuinely excited to just be. Yet, we cannot sleep at night because we are afraid his delay might be autism. We won't know for at least another year.
Right now, he got accepted into an intensive early intervention program. It meets for 4 hours, twice a week. It's a baby boot camp to get him up to par with his peers in the hopes he can start a typical preschool at 3. The rest of the days are filled with two 1/2 hour PT sessions, two 1/2 hour OT sessions and one 1/2 of speech.

He eats a mostly organic diet free of gluten, casein, sugars or anything processed, takes nutritional yeast supplements, is on probiotics, vitamin D, folate, cod liver oil and flaxseed oil. Other than his delay, he is very healthy. He has never had an ear infection and he has been sick perhaps five times total. By sick I mean two days of sneezing or coughing and maybe a runny nose. He almost had a fever one time when it reached 100, but it went away as soon as it came.

As parents of 8-year-old Kai (ASD), we cannot help but micromanage Quinn's everything. We are doing everything and anything to prevent autism. Dodging the autism bullet is not easy when it seems you are genetically predisposed to it. At this point, we are still running and exhausted!

Preventing Autism 101: Planning for our GREEN baby

We wanted a brother for Kai since he was two. Things did not pan out just how we dreamed of for a while. Five years later Quinn finally joined our family. It was a long, stressful, and painful journey. What matters now is that Quinn is here and we could not be happier. He is an amazing little boy. His smile lights up our day. Always smiling, always eager to play and learn. He loves his big brother and I cannot wait until I see them play together.

Preparing for Quinn, however, took a lot of effort. I am not talking about a lot of trips to Babies R Us. I am talking about being physically, mentally and environmentally ready for Quinn to join us. Because I already had Kai who has an autism spectrum diagnosis, I had to take as many preparations as possible to ensure that the things I could control were under control: my body and the environment in which Quinn would live. This was important. Kai's blood tests and urine toxic metals test showed elevated levels of mercury, thallium, tin, aluminum, and arsenic. This meant that Kai's body could not naturally detox itself from all of these chemicals we all come into contact with daily. If there was any chance Quinn's would be the same, we were going to take every precaution to make sure his exposure was significantly minimized.

I visited the holistic doctor who was then treating Kai. I tested myself for toxic metals and even did several rounds of chelation. Gasp! My levels were normal or as the doctor put it, I " had as many metals as any human being who had been walking on this earth for thirty-something years had." We slowly changed our way of living to exclude harsh chemicals from our daily lives and got used to doing things differently. We started in the kitchen. We reduced the use of the microwave, stopped storing items in plastic, got rid of aluminum foil, started using glass and wax paper. More importantly, we changed our diet to consist mostly of organic foods. Quinn would have glass bottles, and everything else would be BPA free and free of anything else that would be considered toxic.

We painted his room in a zero VOC Sherwin Williams paint and allowed daily periods to air out anything left in his room by opening the windows. Additionally, we invested in several air purifiers to put in his nursery and throughout the house. His crib was made of solid wood and painted with non-toxic paint. We passed on any area rugs for his room because those tend to be highly toxic to any environment.

Once that was done, we found ALL ORGANIC fitted sheets, crib mattress, swing, bassinet, bassinet sheets and the bassinet mattress! Phew! That was a pain to search for and choose! It's not that we don't want him to live in the real world. He is going to be already exposed to all of the crap in our environment every single day. Why add even more environmental insult to a potential genetic predisposition we can somewhat control?

As for me, I took my prenatal vitamins, avoided ALL fish (no matter just how low the mercury levels were) and stayed as healthy as I could. I had a fantastic pregnancy with no complications and somehow only gained 13 pounds (maybe the extra 10 I had going into this was a factor?).

One of my best friends held a baby shower for us: a gorgeous, glorious green-themed shower and that set the tone. We were now officially ready to meet Quinn. Will he beat the odds and escape autism? I don't know. I do know that I will do my damn very best to try! I will journal his journey in this world. His quest, against all odds.