Hello I am the extremely proud mother of Ryan – my story starts 6 months ago today when Ryan was born. The past 6 months have been a blur of emotional times but overwhelmingly the happiest of my life. We are truly lucky to have such an amazing son.
Our story begins when Ryan was only a few days old and was coming home from the hospital with my husband Scott and I. Our first night home was one of the longest nights we’ve ever had. “What did we get ourselves into?!” we both must have thought a dozen times. Turns out Ryan had an ear infection. The first of many he’s had over the past 6 months. This was the first concerning sign that Ryan might have some challenges ahead.
Fast forward to our 1 month check up – Ryan is measuring small – you didn’t have to tell us that! We actually had to go out and purchase newborn sized clothes since he was swimming in the 3 month sized stuff. At this point our concerns began to escalate. Is something wrong?
How quickly time goes by – at our 2 month check up we knew we needed to discuss Ryan’s growth. He just wasn’t “sprouting” like everyone says babies do. Not to mention the continuous clothing issues …
At this point, we bring up our concerns that Ryan might have achondroplasia. Talk about surprising the pediatrician. I guess that’s what happens when mom’s mom is a nurse … I got wind of this reason for Ryan’s size from my awesome mom. I’m glad I had this idea in my head vs getting “smacked in the face” with it from Ryan’s pediatrician.
And just a few quick weeks later – Ryan’s condition of achondroplasia was officially diagnosed. Scott and I went through every feeling possible – sadness, anger, denial, pity, frustration, you name it. But it didn’t take long for us to see that we have an amazing son – whether he’s 6 feet tall of 4 feet tall!
With this diagnosis came a number of extensive tests for Ryan to go through. It’s been a long 4 months complete with a sleep study, visit with ENT Dr, Pulmonary Dr, and a MRI – with general anesthesia! Ryan put up with all of this with a smile on his face … well most of the time. He has made us so proud. And we feel like “one of the lucky ones” so far. His spine is in great shape and he seems to have only minor sleep apnea. We will visit that later. Let’s hope for very minimal if any treatment! And of course, we need to take care of his ears, so ear tubes are probably in his future soon. Scott and I feel like we dodged a bullet. After feeling like we’ve only been hearing bad news from Dr after Dr we finally have some good news!
And here we are on Ryan’s half birthday, it’s a wonderful day to celebrate our boy. I can’t wait to share his story with anyone who would like to listen. I know Ryan has already taught me a lot and he’s sure to touch your heart too. I’m just so proud to call him my son.
