The Story

So my little man will be 2 years old tomorrow. I have been putting this post off for a while now but with his birthday almost here I thought it was time. This is the story of Austin and his sickness. He was born March 20, 2007. A perfect, healthy, beautiful baby boy. It was 10 weeks later that the problems started. He started to have a lot of reflux problem then started with what we and the doctors thought was a virus. I am not going to go into great detail because I would be on here a really long time. Well come to find out after being in the hospital over night for dehydration and then starting to have seizures our pediatrician found out Austin had bacterial meningitis. It was just as bad as it sounds. We were at Vanderbilt for a very long time. These were the days when I just didn't know if I could make it to the next day. These were the days when I questioned why god would put this on me. These were the worse days of my entire life. It was about a month after being home that we learned Austin was deaf from the infection. They do not know if it is from the meningitis or the antibiotics they give. Either way it happens in a lot of cases. We are also very lucky that a great surgeon agreed to do bilateral Cochlear Implant on Austin at only 6 months old. Also Austin suffered from some brain damage which means he now had Cerebral Palsy. Most people, like me before I did my research, think you can only have this from birth. Not true. It is where you loose oxygen to the brain and it causes brain damage before or shortly after birth. Usually before 3 months of age. Austin's CP was cause from the seizures. Austin's CP has mostly affected his muscles. It took him a really long time to hold his head up. He doesn't sit up for long periods of time, he can stand but for only a few seconds. That kind of thing. So, this is the story. Sometimes I look back and still to this day I can ball my eyes out. Other days I am so thankful that he has come into our lives. Austin has taught us so much. We now know how to love and how to give all of our love. Austin has also brought us closer to God. We know with God all things are possible. The sky is the limit for this little man and I believe he can do anything. He is truly a blessing from above. My whole life. Days like today I want to cry and I know that it is okay to do that. Days like tomorrow I will be happy. Happy to see how far he has come. Happy to see that big smile on his face. Happy to see that he is here with us and showing us every day how nothing will ever hold him back. I love you Austin! I hope you will take a few seconds to look back on what Austin went through those first couple of weeks. I promise you will be amazed. Thanks for listening.