The Fateful Diagnosis

The year was 2007 I was married and shortly became pregnant after. The minute I got the news I was so excited to be a mom. Growing up in a Dominican household it is made to seem that is one of your greatest accomplishments as a woman. I read all the books, ate all the healthy foods, and took every precaution to ensure that I had a safe and health pregnancy. I attended all the prenatal visits. I went in to give birth right on election day, it was after Obama got elected the next day that I gave birth to a healthy 8 and a half pound beautiful baby boy with a head full of hair. The birth became complicated because I ended up having preeclampsia towards the end of the pregnancy and the doctors decided to induce. 28 hours and a c-section later I was blessed with an 8 and a half pound miracle.

Aidan hit all his milestones on time, after 18 months however we found a regression in speech he seemed to have lost about all of his words, he had about twenty five at the time. I hadn’t really noticed until my aunt who used to be a teacher asked me if Aidan spoke. I was taken aback and then I started paying closer attention and noticed that he had fallen silent. Along with the silence came aggression I know now that it was because of the frustration of not being able to communicate. I took him to the pediatrician and brought up my concerns it was brushed off at first saying I should wait, but I insisted that I wanted my child evaluated.

Fast forward after they put in the referral with the department of health and an agency was assigned to do a full evaluation I was finally scheduled for a meeting to discuss the findings. That is when they told me that they found he had PDD-NOS I don’t remember much else that was said besides the fact that he’d need therapy etc. I felt as if the wind was knocked out of me and I became scared and worried about his future and what this all meant. During the meeting Aidan was playing, but started to cry and fuss and finally fell asleep in my arms. The only thing I had left to do was to cry myself. Throughout my journey I felt alone and people would try to understand, but there are things that we go through as parents of children with special needs that other people honestly can not relate.

This is where the show comes in I want to create the community I would have loved to have when I was going through the process myself.