Life as I know it...: Baby, please don't grow up! (Happy 4th Birthday Will)

4 years ago today, November 30 2007, my baby was born! Will Gregory Johnston weighed in at 9 lbs. 9 oz.

I have written and re-written this post three times now, trying to tell the story of Will's many complications in his first few months of life. No way I tell the story seems quite right, so I am going to give a very condensed version and you might want to Google some of the words (I will put them in bold print).

During Will's birth he had Shoulder Dystocia which caused him to be born not breathing and blue! His APGAR scores were 1 at one minute and 3 at five minutes (not looking good!). After three days of monitoring in the hospital, he was released and given a clean bill of health! At his two month immunizations we found out that he had Plagiocephaly caused by Torticollis, which was caused by the shoulder dystocia (are you still following?). We had to take him to physiotherapy for most of his first year and during his second visit there the pediatric occupational therapist came in and told us that she believed he had Cerebral Palsy! Our world was rocked! As we struggled to come to terms with this new revelation, he needed to go to the head clinic at the Stollery Children's Hospital in Edmonton to be fitted for a DOC band aka helmet because of his plagiocephaly. When we arrived there we were told by an OT that we needed to see a neurosurgeon immediately because she believed that his skull plates were fusing too soon! One more thing to shake us up a little! The doctor said that was not the case, just a severe case of plagiocephaly and he needed the DOC band asap!! We had him fitted and for the next four months we took him to Edmonton regularly to have it checked re-sized. As for the cerebral palsy, we saw specialists who told us that he did NOT have it but we new something wasn't quite right! Will was about three months delayed in almost everything in the first year, so I made sure he went to physio and OT once a week and had Early Intervention come into our house every couple of weeks to work with Will. We will never know if it was a all the hard work of the wonderful professionals, myself and Will or just the grace of God, but by Will's first birthday he had caught up and was reaching all the milestones he should have been! I was still proactive with him and when I noticed some delays in speech, I got him right in to see the speech pathologists.

That is a very condensed version of the roller coaster ride that we were on for that first year, but I want to focus on what Will is now, at four years old!

Will is the clown in our family, always doing something to make someone laugh! He is the sweetest little boy I have ever known and loves to call me Mama!! I call him Baby, which perhaps I should stop, but I know I never will.

Will is very spoiled, probably because he is the baby of the family, but I think that deep down inside of me I will never forget what could have been.

He amazes me every day with what he knows - he can get apps on my iPhone quicker than me (and the only thing that is saving me from a huge credit card charge is that he doesn't know my password!) and he is a whiz on the computer! It always amazes me when he says things like: "do you need dot com or dot ca for that one?".

Will doesn't ever want to leave home, not even to go to school...he even dropped out of playschool earlier this Fall! I don't mind. I will have him home with me until he goes to Kindergarten in September of 2013!

Will loves veggies and white milk.

Will loves his stuffed puppy more than anything else in this world (well, except for his Mama!).

Will LOVED his soother soooooo much that it was one of the most painful things I have ever had to put a stop to (and I didn't do it until he was well past three years old)...but every once in a while if he really need it, he still gets it!

Did I mention Will is spoiled and I know it?!

Will hates giving hugs and kisses, but every once in a while he surprises me with a hug (but never a kiss!!)

In honour of Will's 4th birthday, I will list four things that describe Will best:

1. Spoiled rotten

2. Special boy (I bought him a shirt at Bubba Gumps that reads "My Mama Says I'm Special"...that is the perfect shirt for Will in more ways than one!)

3. Big smile!

4. Funny man!

After going through everything we did with Will early in his life, I will never take him for granted and I know we are so blessed to have him with us!

SJ