Autism Mom
This kid was the second little pea, out of three, harvested out of my pod on July 26th, 2007!
Isabella Kathryn Vargo, was supposed to be the third, out of three, born that day, but....she had other ideas. That week, she climbed over her brother, Michael, and took his spot. Yes...the fight that has lasted 15 years, actually started in-utero. They are ALL still EXACTLY the same!
Bella was delayed in-utero the entire time. The first time we heard heartbeats, and found out we were having triplets, she didn't have a heartbeat yet.
The next time we came, she had a heartbeat, and we were told that we shouldn't expect to see her there the next time.
Later, when I was about 3-4 months pregnant with all three, they said she was formed improperly, and they asked me if I wanted to "reduce" her. Meaning....I'd give birth to a non-living child, or my body would absorb her. I already had two living daughters, and my two sons, I was currently also pregnant with, were fine. Ultimately, it still felt like playing God, and I chose to move forward with being, "Isabella Kathryn Crae Crae Extrodinaire's" mom!
All the kids came home on heart monitors after being on the NICU for two weeks. That my friends is AMAZING....also...a hurricane was on its way, and I wasn't down with being at the hospital, so...we bounced!
All the triplets had feeding and stomach problems, and were on special formulas, and medication just so they could eat peacefully, and keep formula down. Bella became a little extra, and didn't get better.
She kept having reflux and choking and turning blue after she ate, which would result in multiple hospital visits up until she was 6 months old, and she finally had a fundoplication. This poor baby seriously almost died, so many times. If Abby hadn't been there for one episode...she would have probably died at home at one point, because I froze when my kid turned blue, and Abby threw me the suction to clear Bella's airways out.
D’Anna & Victoria were the triplets' NICU nurses. They were who guided us through the whole bringing premie multiples into the world....and later made sure Bella survived living in the hospital so many times after. We have remained friends to this very day!
Isabella was tied into a bed so she couldn't throw up from about 2 months old to 6 months old. That delayed her development even more, and caused her to need in-home therapy, which I have done with her since that time.
When she was 2-3 years old she still wasn't progressing the way she should, and had started walking much later than the boys and needed leg braces called "SMOs" She hated them, and would refuse to walk in them, because they would force her feet on the floor instead of walking on her tippy toes. She would just lay on the floor and cry...so I gave up. She was more stubborn than the doctors would believe....they kept thinking she'd give up. Nope.
Bella had poor functioning and strength around her mouth and a thrashing tongue, so she couldn't speak as quickly as the boys either. We had to learn some minor sign language to communicate with her until we could understand her. It took until almost 7 or 8 years old before the world could sort of understand what she was saying. When she was 1-2 years old she would communicate with me by biting me! It was so shocking for the therapists to tell me, that was what she was doing to communicate, and gain control. My shoulder was literally black and blue! They will get their point across one way or another!
When Isabella was 2-3 years old it became clear we needed to have testing done alongside all her daily therapy, because she was still delayed. We came to know she was autistic in some form on the spectrum and moved forward from there.
Autism and stomach issues go hand and hand. We were not special in any of those statistics!
We are very fortunate in that Isabella is VERY high functioning. She doesn't like loud noise at all. It's triggering for her. On some levels, she functions at 2-3 years old. On others 7-9 years old. Especially in her interests. She does process, and understand that she's a teenager, and trust me being 15 shows up! The way I receive her, is at whatever age she's coming at me with in that moment.
Being her mom, has been my life's work. It has been a privilege to be her mom! She loves everyone she meets, and is a ray of sunshine to the world, and is such an innocent soul!
