I was finishing up my bachelor's degree and looking for a job, married to the nice guy that I met in college. Mr. Man had already finished college and was happily employed.
And then the inevitable happened- or at least the inevitable when two people do not use birth control. I got pregnant. I was planning on making the "it's time to up the ante because I appear to be infertile here" appointment with OB/GYN in the next few months, so we were thrilled. Sure, it kind of killed my job hunting plans but- a baby! I was 29 and I had always wanted at least 3 kids. I was the 16 year old girl in high school who fantasized about babies!!! and terrified her parents into handing her the Pill. I wanted a baby so badly...
And he was perfect. A beautiful baby with big gray eyes who was very into his mommy. Then he turned 2.
I remember the moment I realized something was wrong like it was yesterday. Our college friends came into town for a wedding and they had never seen Boy Wonder, so I was excited for them to see him. They walked into to our dinky apartment and BW...didn't notice. Pretended they did not exist. Then he proceeded to turn in a circle for 10 minutes. I started hearing myself say awkwardly, "he doesn't talk much, but we're sure nothing is wrong. He turns in a circle all the time but we don't think he's autistic or anything." And in that awkward 30 minutes, I realized that I did think it.
Something was wrong with my baby.
But being someone who is prone to hypochondria, I convinced myself I was panicking. He is a a boy! They don't talk as soon as girls and after all, he walked at 9 months! What was I worried about? Finally, my mother accompanied me to a well-child appointment and bullied my pediatrician into making a referral for a developmental pediatrician. The appointment would be in 3 months.
3 months to worry, wait, and fill out mountains of paperwork.
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