Friday, September 30, 2011

Long time coming

Shame, shame, I know. I haven't updated in so long. I think it's because we have been so busy, to those who are looking for pictures, you probably won't see any on this post. I have been thinking about this post for a long time, and haven't had the time to actually type and describe how I wanted to say things.

Welll.... the time has come, so I hope everyone can follow me ;)

Everyone knows the feeling, when you are in the grocery store, and you hear a kid screaming on the next aisle, and one, two or both things come to your head - for me, it was WOW, that will never be my kid, and the second thought was spank that child!!! Well, guess what? Now, that is my child, Aaden. We now have a system, it's straight to the snack isle, get some sugar inside of him, and we will be all good. So I have these thoughts, what did Evan and I do so wrong? What could we have done differently? I've come to the conclusion, kids are just different. Each kid is born with their own little personality, and if they want to yell and scream in the store, that's what they are going to do. I know we have spoiled him with the snacks and what not, but that's what works for our family, and the only way we will make it out the store with hair ;)

This is the part I have been wanting to share...

Aaden started having this crazy fits when he was around 7 months old. For the smallest things, he would pitch the longest fit, I'm talking hours! We talked to our pediatrician about it, and he kept telling us to ignore him, so of course, we took his advice, but Aaden just would not give up, this is how I know he will go on for hours! :/ Talk about breaking your heart. So we tried different things with him, time out, from a corner, to putting him in his crib, that he crawled out of at a very young age during one of his fits. Then we resulted to spanking, well, let me tell you something, spanking is not for every kid. This didn't phase Aaden one bit. Plus, it just added to his stress. We went on for about a year, and I finally decided it was time for me to make a move, because, as him Mom, I knew something was not right. Evan and I went to see a Christian Pediatric Behavior Counselor to talk about some of the issues we were having. The plan was, Ev and I would go alone, to talk to the counselor, let him know what issues we were having and familiarize him with how we do things at home. Then, the second visit, he would observe Aaden. Well, within a few sentences of talking to the counselor about Aaden, he told us he didn't think he could help us with Aaden's condition, and referred us to a Pediatric Neurologist.

We put off going to the Neuro, because we just didn't want to go, basically. The counselor gave us a few tips, called to check in with us, offered more suggestions, but, we still put it off. Then, we had a rough weekend with Aaden, he was trying to hurt himself, and literally cried all weekend, I called my pediatrician, on a Sunday, he went in to evaluate Aaden (yes, Dr. Perriloux is amazing), and once again just wrote us off at it being behavioral.

That was it for me!! I knew, I shouldn't have put off the neuro like I did. The next morning I called to make a Neuro appointment, of course, as a new patient, and we were going to the best Ped Neuro around, we had to wait, almost 3 months. But we went in May. Aaden was an angel in the office with Dr. Hollman, what else would you expect, right? Well, she is amazing!! She diagnosed Aaden with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, OCD.

When people think of OCD they think of the cleaning freaks, well sure, that is a form of OCD, but in children it is a lot different. Aaden tends to get anxiety when around large crowds, he doesn't like large animals, he doesn't like to try new foods. While we are on a list of things he doesn't like, he also doesn't like to sleep all night, nor in his own bed :) Also, when he has an idea in his mind, he just can't think past it, and that's why his fits would go on for hours at a time. He gets very attached to things, doesn't like new things. He will only do something if he thinks it's his idea. He is Aaden, and I love that little turd :)

You should look up OCD in children, it's pretty interesting... not a good kind of way, but OCD is very widely spread, compared to what many people think.

This is the part where people will have their own feelings, but, Dr. Hollman thought Aaden's case was severe enough that he required medication. To me, you can't judge because you don't live with us, you don't know what we have gone thru, what all we have tried. So, of course, I didn't want any medicine to change WHO AADEN IS, because he really does have the sweetest, cutest personality when he isn't have a little episode. Dr. Hollman assured me it wasn't going to change who he is, it would just give him the serotonin in his brain that he is lacking, which causes the OCD. Also, my family has a lot of ADD, ADHD, and Evan's family suffered from tourette syndrome. Those together, make up Aaden, with OCD, they are all in the same little group. Dr. Hollman said starting the medicine now could possibly prevent Aaden from developing ADD, ADHD, or the tourettes. However, this was a medicine he will probably be on his whole life.

I called our pediatrician to let him know what was going on, and to get his opinion, he told me when Aaden turned 2 if we were still having these issues the neurologist was going to be our next step, and Dr. Hollman was the best I could have went to. He said I was doing what was best for my child, and how happy he was that I took a step forward, as did Dr. Hollman. It's always nice to hear words of encouragement from your Dr. Or anyone for that matter. After speaking to our regular pediatrician, Dr. Perriloux, he reintegrated the medicine would not change Aaden, and he thought the right thing would be to go ahead and try the medicine, the only side effect would be increased appetite, and could improve his sleeping. Well, hey now, those are two things we could always use help with!! Those blue eyes just didn't like to be closed, one bit!!

We have been on the medicine since May, and have seen dramatic improvement, we still have the regular 2 year old fits, of course, and Aaden is still Aaden!! He is still tied to his monkey pillow pet, blanket, and juice, but there is not a thing wrong with that. It's the same routine every night, he lays his head down on his pillow and asks you to cover him up then asks for his juice, no worries, it is water at night. I work for a dentist people :P

Since May we have doubled his dosage, because we had a weekend full of anxiety, I was able to speak to Dr. Hollman during that weekend, and she suggested, if I could get him to sleep he may wake up in better spirits. But it was as if he was scared to sleep, even thought I wasn't excited about giving my 2 year old Valium to help him go to sleep, I knew sleep was best for him. So I did. He slept for about 4 hours, and woke up much happier, but that weekend proved to us that Aaden does need his medicine.

I know a lot of people probably wouldn't have given their child medicine, but like I said, this is what was best for our family, and it is still working for us. Aaden changes every day, still. But he is a loving child, that just needs a little special care.

Maybe all the issues we have had with Aaden is why I don't like to let them go anywhere? Who knows, but I am THAT Mom, who doesn't like to do things without her babies. But, they are MY babies, and I work, so I want them with me as much as possible. Even though, with Aaden, that includes, sleeping in the bed with me at night too ;)

If you don't agree, it's ok. Agree to disagree, works just fine for me.

Until next time...

With love,
Courtney :)