Three years of uncertainity

Every six months, we take Baileyanne to the developmental pediatrician. For three years, he would evaluate her, do some visual testing and meet with us for about an hour discussing her progress. Well, EVERY time when we were done, we would walk out of his office more frustrated then we were when we first walked in. He told us that Baileyanne was a late bloomer and that she would "catch up" He is a FANTASTIC doctor and we trust him and his educational background. People always asked us if we were so frustrated, why didn't we change doctors.... well, my gutt always told me that we were doing the "right" thing. As frustrated as I was, I always had a peace that things would "work out" For three years, we attended our appointments with Dr. G and walked out of there in tears. Either at peace with her progress or pure frustration about what to do next. Though I always had a peace about seeing this doctor, I also carried a heavy heart, KNOWING that something was "wrong" with our daughter. People told us that we were doing everything that we could do though I always had this feeling that we weren't doing enough. She had MANY of the symptoms that we read about describing Autism though always in the back of my head and what others told us, she was not Autistic and wasn't going to be. In this long journey, this was the hardest part, not knowing. KNOWING in your heart that something was wrong though not knowing professionally what was the case.
November of 2005 we had our 6 month checkup and my mother in law had heard something about Hyperlexia, which is on the Autistic spectrum. Baileyanne exihibited ALL of the characteristics and we KNEW in our hearts that this was something that we needed to do more research on. We called our developmental pediatrician and he didn't have much information on the topic. I don't care much for the internet though we knew at this point if we were going to get some answers, this was our only option. I did many hours of research on the internet and discussed our findings with Dr. G. Because it was so new, many doctors to this day still don't have much information regardinig this behavior. Long story short, Hyperlexia is on the lower end of the Autistic spectrum and Baileyanne was a prime candidate. We discussed the outcome
and Dr. G (after three years) diagnosed her as having PDD, which is Pervasive Developmental Disorder. Hyperlexia is right above it on the spectrum and Baileyanne falls right in between the two. We FINALLY had some type of answer. Something to attach a name to, something to explain to people. After three years of being told that she was a "late bloomer" and that she would catch up was not "the answer" anymore. I would no longer lie in bed awake at night with an empty feeling in my gutt, knowing that something was wrong with our little girl. We didn't know better. This was our first kid. When professionals tell you over and over that she would catch up, that is what we "held onto" In a sense, we celebrated that month, discussing options and further "treatment". This was only the beginning of our long journey ahead.

On a lighter note.... baby is doing good. I have gained 19 lbs and am almost 23 weeks along. This is the most weight I have gained being pregnant. I am exhausted and ready to have this kid! I tried getting off my nausea meds last week though got sick again. Not too much to report these days.