November is Prematurity Awareness Month. In honor of this, some parents who have had babies prematurely have offered to tell their stories to create awareness about his important cause.

Our next two miracles are Ross and Riley. They were born on July 21st 2006 at 32 weeks to mom Melissa.

Most women never really know why they end up having their babies early, however Melissa does. We recently spoke to her about her journey. Here is her story:

Ross was significantly interuterine growth restricted (IUGR) and dropped from the 40th percentile in size to the 3rd percentile in size over the course of a couple of weeks. Earlier in the pregnancy I had experienced significant bleeding episodes, which they believed were due to his placenta not forming correctly. The perinatologist felt that the malformed placenta stopped working, which is probably why his growth slowed so much. I was already a high risk pregnancy (tons of fertility treatments to get pregnant, twins, bleeding and bedrest, etc.) so I was being monitored very closely. The perinatologist determined that Ross had a better chance at survival if he was delivered and scheduled a c-section.

At the time, I was so sad that Riley would have to suffer the effects of being a preemie also, because he appeared to be developing just fine in utero. However, within seconds of his birth, the neonatologist from the NICU realized that one of his testicles was twisted and black. Riley was rushed to another hospital and his testicle was removed during an emergency surgery hours after he was born. It was a rare emergency situation that does not show up on ultrasound, and we would never have known it was happening if he had not been born that day. With the loss of one testicle, he will not suffer any ill effects. However, when they went to do the surgery, the other testicle was also starting to twist and they had to take steps to prevent that from happening to save it. If he had remained in utero even one more day, he would have lost both testicles, resulting in him never going through puberty, having severe growth issues, and never being able to have children of his own. So, although I delivered early because of Ross, it actually was a medical miracle for Riley, too.

When Ross was born he weighed in at 2lbs8oz. Ross had a very uneventful, typical NICU stay. He had the typical A’s and B’s, some reflux, and bilateral Grade 1 IVH’s(intraventricular hemorrhage), but for the most part was a feeder and a grower. He never suffered any infections or critical illnesses. After 33 days he was able to come home.

Riley was 3lbs14oz when he was born. Riley was on a ventilator for 24 hours after his testicle surgery and then on C-pap for only three days. Then, he had the typical A’s and B’s of prematurity. He also had bilateral Grade 1 IVH’s (intraventricular hemorrhage) like his brother. Riley suffered a severe staph infection in his parotid (salivary) gland. After he recovered from that, he was a feeder and a grower. He came home as well after 33 days in the NICU.

As a result of their prematurity, Ross has mild cerebral palsy which mainly affects his right side. In addition, he also has PDD (a mild form of autism) which may or may not be related to his prematurity. He has been delayed in all areas (gross and fine motor) in terms of meeting milestones, although he is meeting them at his own pace, slowly. Ross is able to walk independently.

Riley was diagnosed with global hypotonic cerebral palsy (low tone) as a result of being born at 32 weeks. He wears DAFO’s and still has an altered gait, however he is walking independently. He suffers from global gross and fine motor delays as well.

If Melissa had one piece of advice for new preemie moms, it would be this: Trust your instincts and realize that your child is not simply a “preemie” or a “patient” but that this is your baby. You are a mother, and you will know what your child needs and you will able to love, care for, and meet those needs. Don’t be afraid to question doctors, ask for clarification, and get second, third, millionth opinions if something doesn’t feel right. Just because your baby is a preemie and might need extra medical care, don’t give up your “momminess” for the sake of the doctors. Being the parent of a preemie doesn’t make you any less of a mom, it makes you more of one.

I asked Melissa to describe her two boys with one word each. For Ross she says “MAGICAL” and Riley “HILARIOUS”.

Other Amazing Preemies:

• Preemie Profile: 24 Weeker Johann
• Preemie Profile: 26 Week Twins Peyton and Marc
  
• Baby Arrives Prematurely on Board AirAsia Flight

An Indianapolis teacher has come under fire after it was revealed that she may have tried to harm a special needs student in order to prevent him from attending a class trip.

“Maybe he could get sick enough not to attend and we won’t have to deal with it,” the teacher told a classroom aide, according to court and state documents.

This is what teacher Trinda Barocas said when referring to one of her students, a little seven year old boy with autism. Why? All because she didn’t want him to be part of a class trip to the zoo.

In an interview with Child Protective Services (CPS) afterwards, Trinda said that she didn’t want the boy to be part of the trip because she thought he would act out.

The state report says teacher’s aides also described Barocas as dragging Young’s son and another student across the floor by their arms, pushing them, pinching Young’s son and flicking the other student on her lips.

On the day the class was heading on the field trip, the teachers aide, David Holder told investigators that Trinda said:

I wonder what would happen if (the boy) had peanuts? I could touch it, and then touch him.

Not long after, she allegedly tossed him a Mr. Goodbar that was full of just that. Peanuts.

The Mr. Goodbar allegation came to light when school officials called in state child welfare investigators after teacher’s aides alerted them about concerns that the teacher was abusive.

As you can imagine the young boy’s mother, Anita Young was shocked when the school alerted her to what had happened. She believed she was sending her son somewhere safe when he went to school everyday and has since realized that this was not the case.

The boy’s peanut allergy, which was discovered when he was small, is so severe, doctors told his parents he would asphyxiate within minutes if he were to ever come in contact with them again.

According to her, he probably didn’t eat the candy bar because he won’t eat foods that are “unfamiliar” to him, a character trait common to kids with autism.

Mrs.Young has filed a suit against the district and she wants criminal charges filed against the teacher, something that has yet to happen.

“I think she’s sadistic,” Young said. “I think there’s something wrong with her mind. She shouldn’t teach. She shouldn’t be allowed around kids.”

Barocas’ attorneys did not respond to calls seeking comment Thursday, but according to the CPS report, the teacher told the agency “she did not want (the boy) to attend the field trip to the Indianapolis Zoo because of his behavior. She stated that he did go and did many things that he was not allowed to do. Trinda compared (the boy) to an 18-month-old child several times. Trinda denied that she did anything or said anything to stop (the boy) from coming on the field trip.”

It has also been revealed that back in 2007, this teacher was placed on administrative leave after a nurse saw her force feeding, slapping and restraining a child.

Before these accusations came to light, the district was planning to fire Mrs.Barocas for poor performance. Before that could happen, she resigned.

This story just makes me want to cry. Our kids are supposed to be able to go to school to learn, to make friends and to have fun. We as parents are always confident that our children are safe in the school system. This is just scary.

As the parent of a special needs child, stories like this really make me worry about how the school system will be with my son once he is old enough to be there. I already have issues with trust and things like this are just going to make it that much more difficult.

NO child deserves to be treated in such a horrible manner. No child deserves to miss out on class trips because of a disability. I have learned over the years that some people just don’t understand kids that have special needs. They are just like everyone else, but deal with problems that are NOT their fault.

I am disgusted with this teacher. I hope that she gets what she deserves and I sure hope that they do file criminal charges against her. This was totally uncalled for and she needs to be punished.

The fact that back in 2007 she was put on leave because of mistreating another child makes me even more angry. She should have lost her license THEN as a teacher. If so this boy would not be in the position that he is in.

My heart goes out to the little boy and his family. – Shannon Strohm, Staff Writer

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• Is This Is How Families Of Special Needs Kids Are Treated?

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Last month my girlfriend told me about an autistic boy who had been locked in a solitary confinement room for a whole day at his Catholic School for being disruptive during class. The story was so shocking to hear, I would never have believed that this could happen anywhere else.

A Government Accountability Office report scheduled to be released today, documents the problems with the way children with disabilities are being treated in public schools, including cases of children being held face-down on the ground.

The GAO report was prepared for the House Education and Labor Committee, which is considering new laws governing what actions teachers can take to rein in disruptive special-needs students.

The GAO, the investigative arm of Congress, found that state laws governing the treatment of the more than 6 million children classified as having “special needs” — conditions including autism and Down syndrome – are patchy at best. Teachers and school staff frequently lack training in correct restraint methods, and in some cases, where improper restraints led to injuries, teachers often kept their jobs.

Only five states keep track of incidents where special-needs students are separated or restrained. Parents contacted by CNN commonly said they were not told their child was being disciplined until he or she began to behave badly at home — a sign of trouble at school.

Some of the most disturbing reports concerned the use of seclusion rooms. Experts have long recommended that children should only be isolated when they posed an immediate threat to themselves or others. But CNN found that isolation was often used as a punishment by teachers to compel the students to follow instructions.

State investigators in Utah found a teacher left 7-year-old Garrett Peck in an isolation cubicle for at least two and a half hours after the teacher said he told her to “shut up.”

While the boy was in the cubicle, the teacher taunted him by playing his favorite video and telling him what he was missing. His parents, Joshua and Becca Peck, said the child has an attention span of about 10 minutes, and they believe that after the first few minutes, he had no idea why he was in the cubicle.

“It was so sad. We felt it was a form of torture for him but he, being autistic, he had no way to express it,” Joshua Peck said. “He couldn’t tell.”

And Becca Peck said her son had been left in the cubicle with nothing but a magic marker — which he used to scrawl all over himself. When she came to school to pick him up, “He was covered in marker — on his eyelids, on his hair, face, clothes, arms, eyelids — everywhere.”

“I started thinking, ‘What was he thinking?’ Was he thinking, ‘Why is my mom letting this person do this to me? Why am I here? I trust no one now.’ ”

In one case, a New York school confined a 9-year-old with learning disabilities to a “small, dirty room” 75 times in six months for whistling, slouching and hand-waving. In another, a Florida teacher’s aide gagged and duct-taped five misbehaving children to their desks; and police say a 14-year-old boy died when a special-education teacher in Texas lay on top of the student when he would not stay seated. Police ruled it a homicide, but a grand jury rejected criminal charges.

The findings from the GAO stop short of attaching a hard number to how many children are subjected to the practices, but investigators say they found “hundreds of allegations” of abuse involving restraint or seclusion at schools from 1990 to 2009; in Texas and California, they say, public schools recorded a combined 33,095 instances in the past school year alone.

The report goes on to detail 10 children’s cases, four of which ended in death. Unlike in hospitals or residential treatment centers, there’s no federal system to regulate such practices in schools — and teachers are often inadequately trained.

I am saddened and horrified by these reports. It is hard to think that a child who already has so many confusing things happening in their head has to add this abuse to their confusion.

Doctors say that the baby, who is four days old, runs a high risk of contracting it unless he is immunised within days because his mother has had the virus for several years.

Even though The New South Wales Department of Community Services has taken out a Supreme Court order to force the parents to immunise their child, it has been ineffective because they have been unable to locate the couple.

The parents of the newborn believe the illness can be managed more effectively than any potential damage from the vaccine.

They believe that the aluminium in the vaccine could cause the baby more damage than contracting hepatitis B.

The baby’s father, who is seeking an injunction against the court order, was adamant the family would stay on the run indefinitely.

One of the doctors who alerted state authorities to the couple’s refusal to have the baby vaccinated, Professor David Isaacs from Sydney’s Westmead Children’s Hospital, said yesterday that the child’s rights were being ignored.

“If you do not immunise a baby in this situation, you’re putting that baby’s life at risk,” he said. He went on to say that if a baby gets hepatitis B at birth he or she will become a chronic carrier of the virus.

“About a third of those chronic carriers will die young from cancer of the liver or cirrhosis of the liver … this is a horrible disease,” he said.

Police won’t say if the parents would be charged once they were found. “It’ll be something that’ll have to be assessed once that child is located,” New South Wales Assistant Police Commissioner Frank Mennilli said when asked by reporters.

These parents are probably scared because there has been some speculations that Autism and the hepatitis B vaccine are connected.

This, plus it has been found that there is alarming number of newborn and infant deaths following the injecting of the hepatitis B vaccine just hours or days after birth.

Mercola has a great article about this subject. It is worth a read if you are pregnant.

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Last week, Elementary kindergarten teacher Wendy Portillo held a vote in her classroom in which kindergarten students “voted out” 5-year-old Alex Barton, who was in the process of being tested for Asperger’s Disorder, a type of high-functioning autism. Alex’s mother, Melissa Barton, said the vote was taken after classmates were allowed to tell Alex what they didn’t like about him.

The class voted Alex out of the room, by a 14 to 2 margin.

As of This morning, Alex had officially been diagnosed with an autism-spectrum disorder and attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD. He is not in school, but misses the one friend he made in the classroom his mom said. I think that this teacher should have helped the class understand that Alex was different because of the disorder he was born with.

When a student with special needs is placed in a class, a specialized teacher should help the other students understand that the child may be disruptive, but that they can’t control their behavior.

This could go a long way to preparing the other kids for what is in store for them rather than have them just not like that person.

It makes me sad to think that this little boy had to listen to his classmates list off the things they didn’t like about him. No one should ever have to go through that, especially a kindergartner!

SOURCE VIA PARENTDISH.COM