Tuesday, November 01, 2005

My Son

Jed is a miracle of modern medicine just because he is alive. He was born in 1980 three months premature.
I had been pregnant a few times before that one, but they usually ended early. The only pregnancy before Jed ended in premature labor and delivery, also. That time I wasn't so lucky. My twin daughters were born at 1 lb. 1 oz. and 1 lb. 4 oz. and both died within 2 hours of birth.

So when I went into labor three months early with Jed, all I could think was that he would die too. He was born early one morning...breach...by ceasarean...weighing 2 lbs. 7 oz. When my husband told me that we had a boy, all I could think was that he would die soon.

But, Jedidiah Lyle didn't die. He lived even though he had hundreds of needle pricks, an intestinal disease that could have killed him, blown out lungs, apnea and bradychardia up the ying yang, and many x-rays.

When Jed was around 1 1/2 we took him to an eye specialist, as Jed was going cross-eyed. He performed surgery on Jed's eyes to correct the problem of extremely tight inner eye muscles from too much oxygen when Jed was first put on the ventilator. Jed still, to this day, has a problem with shaking eyes, but not enough to cause major problems.

When Jed was around 2 years old, we discovered that the reason he wasn't speaking was because he had damaged auditory nerves. I had tried to tell the neonatologist several times that I had experimented at home with pots and pans, loud noises, etc, but the doctor insisted that perhaps Jed was brain damanged, having been so premature. Finally Jed was sent to a child pcycologist to determine his mental abilities. Low and behold, he was three years ahead in his deductive reasoning....not mentally disabled at all. Next came the audiologist. Yup, Jed was very hard of hearing, not quite deaf, but close enough. So Jed got his first set of hearing aids at the age of 2. Then there was the struggle to have him taught sign language in the local school. I guess they didn't have anyone interested in learning ASL, so they discouraged Jed's being taught ASL even at home. Screw em'. I went to the library and got books on ASL to start teaching Jed the signs and mouthing the words so that he could understand and perhaps start lip-reading also. I'll never forget his first word. Not only did he sign it, but said "sugar" out loud. I cried I was so happy.

Since that time, Jed has been in several schools, both hearing and deaf school, but he didn't do to well in any. He's smart, just has a problem with authority, I guess. Perhaps he takes after his mother and father too much...we were both like that, too.

Jedidiah is now 25 years old, close to 6 feet tall, self-sufficient (finding and holding jobs), and living in his own place. He's very proficient with the computer and technical equipment and makes friends easily.

I'm so proud of my baby boy and happy he turned out so well, even though he had to come so many obstacles along the way.

Love you Jed!