10 days

Its been that long since i last blipped. 

I've been busy. Last week of school holidays was crazy. I mean  i increased my coffee intake by one extra cup a day just to get through. 

They were bored but didn't want to do stuff, they were tired but resting was boring. So instead they resorted to fighting with each other or being mischief together and causing more mayhem and work.

They're back at school this week but my days have not been so quiet. Harper has croup, last night as i put him to bed i noticed he was chesty and i thought ah i'll take him tomorrow to get checked. Tomorrow couldn't wait. 

As i went to bed he woke coughing, a deep bark like cough where he couldn't catch his breath in between, i tried to calm him but he started to panic and then i started to panic. I can tell you all the accidents i've had to deal with; all the emergencies ive always stayed calm- this had me panicking. 

I could see in his eyes he was scared as he was grabbing his throat. I wrapped him up in  a blanket and rushed him down to the after hours. I contemplated an ambulance but i thought    A. how would i get home? B. Andre started his new 6am shift this morning so has to leave home at 530am. C. The kids needed to get to school. 

When i got down there they took him through and we were seen quickly, Harper was struggling to breathe, his oxygen levels had dropped and they started to get masks with oxygen and a nebuliser with adrenaline ready. I actually felt sick thinking they way they were doing things are they preparing for him to stop breathing?

In the end to calm him enough for them to treat him- it was sort of funny but the doctor and the nurse walked around outside with me and Harper on their advice as cooler air helps calm them and helps them breathe, they brought out steroids and we gave it to him while we  all wandered around the entrance. Then when he had calmed we went back in. 

Once steroids kicked in he was fine, like nothing had happened, driving his car around the nurses station, showing the nurses his car as well as the patient in the next bay who admired his slippers. We had to stay a few hours so they could observe him in case he started to struggle again. 

They let us go home at 130am so i wandered back with him wrapped up in blanket curled into me. A police car went by me just as i was nearly home, then another one-they slowed down and looked at me. I was thinking nooooo please don't even stop i wanna get home.

He fell asleep around 3 and i did around 3, i woke up around  5am though as i knew Andre had to get up and he wasn't yet up, i couldn't get back to sleep after he went to work so ive managed to live today on 2 hour sleep


Harper has been alright today, pretty tired. He still has a cough but when he does its not such a bark, more like hes getting stuff out of his chest. He got a bit wheezy before bed so gave him a shower. He's sound asleep now so hopefully he'll have a better night.

So in the holidays Andre and i had a meeting with Marley's paediatrician, psychologists and case worker/speech therapist at the ministry of education. Marleys autism assessment came back that he is indeed in the autistic spectrum having aspergers. 

This is a copy and paste of what i put on my facebook.

 Asperger's is where they have normal to higher intelligence, are capable of feelings- empathy, love etc, are able to function normally, learn etc and are verbal, they like to be social but that is what doesn't come naturally.
Marley can't read social cues, facial expressions, context, interactions, gestures etc. A lot of what doesn't come naturally can be taught to Marley though- how to interact with others, how to respond etc he'll also need to be taught why we do certain things as that part is missing. He doesn't understand why there is importance to look at people when talking to them -sort of thing.
He can read any book you hand him but he doesn’t take in the context nor is he able to predict through the use of pictures what may happen next, how a person is feeling in the story, why they are feeling that way (same thing applies to life for him). He doesn’t understand intent and social context so for example he doesn’t/won’t understand if a child is being mean to him nor does he understand that what he may do or say may be hurtful to others.
They said that luckily a huge strength Marley has is the love of instructions, this is going to be a saving grace for him many times throughout his life, as he’ll need everything broken down into small steps, lots of small instructions for him to complete a task even one such as socks and shoes on. 
Once he does a task in small steps a few times it will stick and he'll remember how to do things like that, that's how they'll teach him how to be social- break it down into small steps and he'll file it away until a situation appears where he will draw on that file in his brain on how to react/respond, this is how his brain works.


So big news but what we sort of expecting- still stings a bit to have it confirmed but there's lots of support in place for him now at home and at school.

Well all up to date- must go sleep, err i have to wait for bread to finish cooking then i can sleep.