Dealing with the emotional shock of finding out that our beautiful blond haired, blued eyed, smiley faced little boy had so many problems facing him was devastating to us. The questions of course began to race through my head of why this was happening to our family. I would look back at the things I could have done for this to happen. I wondered what I had done wrong. Did I not eat right, pray hard enough, read my Bible enough, not be the best person I could be? It was like a broken record playing in my head over and over. The frustration of the unknown lingered and never seemed to subside. I ask God many times "why" and the answer never came. I had to teach myself everyday to let go and do the best with what I had to give my boy, while at the same time providing support and attention to my other 4 children. It seemed like a whirlwind had taken over my life. I was out of control of my own life and I didn't know what to do.
Reprieve came when we received help from the ECI program for Beckett when he turned 8 months old. They provided physical therapy, occupational therapy, and play therapy for him two times a week at daycare. This helped us financially by qualifying us to be on their sliding scale to pay for his monthly therapy. It also kept my husband and I from taking off work and bring him to another location for therapy. Before Beckett began therapy we wasn't crawling, turning over well, he could not feed himself finger foods or hold a sippy cup. He also did not babble like normal. He did however have a scream that would set off our broken glass alarm. My husband playfully said he was an "X-Man" and had "X-Man Powers". That piercing scream would make the hair on the back of your neck stand up. On the flip side to that he has a contagious laugh. When he laughed, everyone laughed with him.
His therapy began to help is motor skills and coordination develop by the time he was 12 months he began to scoot on his rear end and was attempting to try and crawl. We learned through the therapist that every motion he made had to be taught to him. Hand over hand was key to his success in developing his motor skills & coordination. On his one year well check we received a recommendation from his pediatrician to have Beckett be seen by an ENT for the continuous ear infections he had since he was 3 weeks old. He also had a concern about his hearing, since he was not talking yet. He had a numerous hearing tests done, which thankfully were all normal. He and his twin sister both had ear tube surgery the same morning. This seemed to reduce the number of times he was sick.
A few weeks after ear tubes were put in we found out from his physical therapist his feet are pronated and turn in. He has no arches, he has "flat feet". This causes problem causes him to lack balance. She recommended him to get SFO's. These types of braces came right below the knee and were custom fitted by casting. Keeping a busy boy still for that was a three man job, one to hold his arms, one to hold his legs and the other to cast them. He wears these braces all day except when he his sleeping. We also found that this was just the beginning of the many appliances and prosthetics he would have to wear. Another finanical hit to us. These braces run about $2500/pair that must be replaced every 6-8 months, depending on how fast the feet grow. Needless to say, my husband and I were saying...How much more can we take?...Looking back from now...so much more than we expected.
Reprieve came when we received help from the ECI program for Beckett when he turned 8 months old. They provided physical therapy, occupational therapy, and play therapy for him two times a week at daycare. This helped us financially by qualifying us to be on their sliding scale to pay for his monthly therapy. It also kept my husband and I from taking off work and bring him to another location for therapy. Before Beckett began therapy we wasn't crawling, turning over well, he could not feed himself finger foods or hold a sippy cup. He also did not babble like normal. He did however have a scream that would set off our broken glass alarm. My husband playfully said he was an "X-Man" and had "X-Man Powers". That piercing scream would make the hair on the back of your neck stand up. On the flip side to that he has a contagious laugh. When he laughed, everyone laughed with him.
His therapy began to help is motor skills and coordination develop by the time he was 12 months he began to scoot on his rear end and was attempting to try and crawl. We learned through the therapist that every motion he made had to be taught to him. Hand over hand was key to his success in developing his motor skills & coordination. On his one year well check we received a recommendation from his pediatrician to have Beckett be seen by an ENT for the continuous ear infections he had since he was 3 weeks old. He also had a concern about his hearing, since he was not talking yet. He had a numerous hearing tests done, which thankfully were all normal. He and his twin sister both had ear tube surgery the same morning. This seemed to reduce the number of times he was sick.
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| Beckett first pair of SFO's before be began walking |
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