I knew something was different with Honeybunches from the time he was born. First off, for being my 3rd child he was the roughest labor and delivery not easier. I was in labor 28 hours with him and then he got stuck in the birth canal. They did a vaccuum extraction. That did not work. He did not budge. Then they gave me a big episiotomy and pulled him out with forceps. Poor boy had a cone head with black and blues on each side for a month.
He did not know how to suck his bottle. I still remember the photographer trying to take his newborn picture when he was one day old. As soon as he put the light in his face he screamed. Took the light away and he stopped. He did it again and again. Each time he cried. I finally had to tell him to take a crabby baby picture because it was all he'd get! When we got him home I noticed more differences. He did not like to be held. He would let me hold him to eat and then would scream to be down. He had a mad cry instead of a sad one. He had major sensory issues from very early on. When he was 4 days old he had jaundice real bad. They found out he has the rarest blood type AB- which is what they believed caused his jaundice. His body was fighting off my blood they said. He stayed under the billilights. They told me if his #s went up 1 more digit he would need a transfusion. Thankfully they went down.
He seemed to hate certain clothing from the time he came home. He would scream until I changed him. He hated noise, lights, and even people. His bottles had to be room temperature not warm as did his food. He still prefers it that way. He was always serious about his eats. Literally his 1st words were "Baba" and "Eat" not "Mom" or "Dad". By the time he was ten weeks old he was eating 8-10 oz every 2 hours day and night.
At 6 months he sat up. At 7 months he developed this scootch where he would sit up, using his hands to push his butt off the floor he would get around that way. He never crawled the traditional way. I guess he did not like the feeling of being on his knees. Shortly before he was 13 months he began walking. He has always loved to look out the windows watching the trucks go by. Shortly after he began walking the biting began.
When Honeybunches was three years old I enrolled him in Headstart. Both of his sisters went and had real positive experiences. I was proud of all they learned there and the solid foundation they began their education with. That's when I began to learn how "Different" he really was. At 1st I thought it was because he was a boy, although I worked with boys at the daycare who were nothing like him. I guess my Mommy heart was blind. His 1st couple days there were great. That was his honeymoon period because after that things got bad. He was spitting at teachers, biting the children, throwing things, running away, and they could not tolerate this type of behavior. He only lasted a month. Then they told me that he could not come anymore because he was a safety risk.
When he was three new problems began. His language began regressing about that age. He began making up his own words and seemed to be in his own little world. Night terrors began. They were very graphic, filled with blood and gore. Themes of them were things like sharks eating him to pieces and he would be all bloody, about him getting hit by a train, drownding and other things like that. He would be screaming, sweating profusely, breathing heavy really fast and his little heart would be pounding. He would be unresponsive. We could tell he was still dreaming. About 15 minutes or so later he would wake up crying. At age 3 the rages also began. He would get this certain look in his eye and a certain smile. It was like his eyes were big, wide eyed, glossy and scrunchy all at the same time. Then it was like something overtook him and he'd get very aggressive. These incidents would happen several times per day lasting anywhere from 30 minutes to 4 hours nonstop. He also frequently talked about a "Man in (his) belly who made him do bad things". One day I remember it became more clear. Honeybunches cut his foot coming up the stairs. "Stop laughing at me"!!!! He screamed. It was only DH and I home. Neither of us were laughing at him. I tried telling him that nobody was laughing. He cried "Yes he is. Man is laughing at me! Make him stop Momma... Make him stop!" So I had to tell the man to stop laughing. It was the only way to get him to calm down.
Honeybunches never slept through the night until he was 4 1/2 and on meds. Thankfully his current batch of medications has made the man go away. He does not even rage anymore and has been like a different child since his hospitalization.
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