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    Parents Guide to Autism: True Life Story, Tips and More!
    Parents Guide to Autism: True Life Story, Tips and More!
    Parents Guide to Autism: True Life Story, Tips and More!
    Ebook30 pages20 minutes

    Parents Guide to Autism: True Life Story, Tips and More!

    By Kym Kostos

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    About this ebook

    My dear sweet little guy was "sunny-side up" and turned around, so I was scheduled for a C-Section on August 10, 2004 in the morning. They had estimated a few weeks too early and my son was taken to NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) and hooked up to all sorts of machines and a life support machine was waiting nearby.  
     
    His lungs weren't fully developed yet. He stayed in the NICU for about three weeks. There were complications of him not breathing or he would stop breathing when he would be fed.  
     
    Finally I was able to bring him home and then the adventure of Nick started! 
     
    After I brought Nick home from the hospital, he started progressing as any normal child would. He began speaking with words like, "mama", "dada", "kitty" (we have two cats).  
    He started to first roll around and then shortly thereafter he began to crawl. He loved to eat and whenever he would hear his spoon scrape the bottom of the jar, he would get upset and cry because he knew there would be no more food until his next feeding.................................... 
     
    Nick was progressing as a normal baby and child would. The summer of 2006, I started noticing changes in him. He wasn’t smiling as much anymore, he had stopped talking and “jibber jabbering”, he wasn’t crawling or beginning to walk anymore. It was as if everything he had learned, began to go in reverse. 
     
    When I took him to get his shots in October, I asked his pediatrician, who had been with him since his birth, if she noticed in changes in him. She observed him for a while and informed me that something doesn’t look like it’s “connecting right” in his head. She wrote a referral for Nick to get evaluated at Children’s Hospital. 
     
    An appointment was made in the Developmental Psychiatric Department in mid-November. 
     
    My husband and I both were there. Nick was evaluated for about three to four hours. Finally, when the testing was over, we walked into the doctor’s office. She informed us that she had given Nick a series of tests and situations.  
     
    At his age he should be walking, talking, interested in coloring, puzzles, playing with toys the correct way, like normal kids do. He was doing none of that. She also assessed that he was hyperactive and could not focus on one thing for too long. He was also tested for hearing and vision. 
     
    Her assessment was that he had perfect hearing and vision, but he also had ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) and ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder). 
     
    I was not familiar with any of these terms. The doctor then went into details about each disorder. I was trying hard to listen and pay attention to what she was saying and I got most of it. It was hard when a doctor tells you that your child suffers from life long disorders. Your mind tends to wander and wonder if your child will ever be “normal” again.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherVince Stead
    Release dateJul 17, 2015
    ISBN9781516338160
    Parents Guide to Autism: True Life Story, Tips and More!

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      Book preview

      Parents Guide to Autism - Kym Kostos

      Chapter 1. My Story

      My pregnancy was a surprise to me.  I didn't realize that I was pregnant until I was seven months along.  I had been trying to get pregnant with my son’s father, who is now deceased. 

      In January 2004, I thought I was pregnant because I had not had my period.  I went to my gynecologist and had a pregnancy test via urine.  It turned up negative.  At the time, I had been training for women's professional football.  I was running 2-4 miles a day, practicing catching the football, etc... and of course eating healthy. 

      I was not taking any medications or drinking alcohol and was in pretty good health.  A few months went by and I still hadn't had my period.  I went back to the doctor and met with a nurse practitioner.  I took another pregnancy test via urine... still negative. 

      The nurse practitioner at my gynecologist’s informed me that if I was trying to get pregnant, that maybe it was my husband's issue and that he should be tested.  I informed her that I was training for football and she said that if I wanted to wait, that maybe I should go on birth control pills.  I declined her offer, because birth control pills make me sick.  I went home and continued training for several more months. 

      ––––––––

      June 2004

      I started waking up every morning sick to my stomach.  My husband and I thought I had the stomach flu, although the sickness was only in the morning.  It went on for about a month. 

      Early July, I was laying in bed one morning and I felt something in my stomach. Like a kick.  I thought maybe that there was something wrong with my stomach.  I had my husband take me to Urgent Care and I told them what was going on. 

      They took a blood test and urine test.  The urine test came up negative for pregnancy,

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