Autism - An accidental diagnosis

When K was just over 3 years old our household had another drama that proved to be a turning point for K.

My wife was 31 weeks pregnant when she decided to go into labour early one Saturday evening. Now, in most parts of the Australia this would be an inconvenience and worrying time.When you live in country Queensland it is an absolute nightmare. My first move was to call the local hospital only to be told "We don't deliver babies here.What do you expect us to do about it?".

My next thought was to ring our feeder hospital which is a further 75kms West(away from the bigger towns). The head nurse there told me to ring an ambulance because protocol dictates that the ambulance has to take you to the nearest hospital. Yes, that is right. The same one that had already told me they didn't deliver babies. Anyway, for want of a better suggestion and basic pure panic I took their advice and my wife was promptly delivered to a less than happy local hospital.

Once we arrived we were met by a nursing staff who went to put a foetal monitor on my wife but had to read the user manual (No. I am not joking) in order to connect it correctly. No doctor was to be found at the hospital so we hate to wait for a locum arrive. Within about half an hour(glad it wasn't urgent at all) in walked a attractive YOUNG doctor. She saw my wife sitting on the bed and promptly stated "OH F..K! I have never delivered a baby. With that my poor stressed wife almost fell off the bed....

It got worse though because trying to remain the calm head in an awkward situation I said to the doctor. "don't worry. I've been present for a few of these. I'll talk you through it." Unfortunately, she seemed to think I was serious....

Anyway, I digress. This is not important in K's diagnosis though it does give me a chance to show some of the stresses of living in what is now a major mining town in Queensland. The upshot was a 3 hour trip in an ambulance to a major hospital and my daughter being born 9 weeks early and with a valve that doesn't function properly in her heart.

Now the positive side of her being born with a heart problem. As a result of her heart valve problem she has to see a specialist on an ongoing basis.At her second visit to the specialist we took K with us. By some miracle when we walked into the doctor's room she spoke to K. When she received very little response from him she promptly turned to my wife and I and said "Don't worry about your daughter. I need to see him(K) far more urgently than I need to see your daughter." That ultimately led to K being diagnosed with Autism and my wife and I finally being able to put a finger on what was different about him in comparison with his brothers.

Let's Talk About Autism!!