One step back

Since my twins were born 3 months premature, the hospital staff told me that their development would be like a dance. Two steps forward, one step back, two steps forward, one step back.

This 'dance' has proven to be true. For the first few months of his life, #2 fought a life and death battle to hang on. He came off of the ventilator after the first few days and I was able to hold him for the first time (two steps foward), and then developed pneumonia and a collapsed lung (one step back). Now that he is older, his development has progressed by leaps and bounds, and one would never know he began life as a tiny 2 pound infant struggling to breathe and grow.

The dance for #1 began very smoothly. Everything seemed to be step forward, and he wowed the neonatologists and nurses in the NICU because he did not develop any of the complications that most preemies are prone to have. He went home from the hospital after only 6 weeks, and everything seemed to be going right (two steps forward). At 10 months of age, the 'dance' began when he had his first siezure (one step back). Then he began to have 3 or 4 siezures per day. The doctors had us give him powerful medication that made him sleep 20 out of 24 hours per day, but that didn't seem to slow the siezures, and he even had them in his sleep. The doctors then had us switch him to a steriod injection twice per day, which made him very fussy, irritated, hungry, and the hair around his upper lip even started to turn dark. Finally, the siezures stopped and we weaned him off of the steriods (two steps forward). He was a different baby after that day (one step back).

Now that #1 has autism, we still do the 'dance' with his progression. He will do wonderful for several weeks at a time, but then he will have a week or two of regression.

I have a feeling that a 'one step back' period is coming because he has had two months of solid steps foward, but I need to prepare my heart. It always devastates me when the step back occurs.