The progresses that this young infant girl is making, very slow, but every tiny step she took, counts, a whole, lot, on taking care of a child with special needs, and these individuals are full of love! Translated…
I’d Smiled with An-An Then, and, as I was Smiling, I’d Thought, that These Short Thirty-Seconds Time, Quite Ordinary of the Days, and Yet, in the Three Years of Her Life, it’d Been Hard to, Come, by……………
After Being Released from the Hospitals, the Challenges Had Begun
I’m a social worker of the early intervention center, before I wrote this article, I’d just watched the video from Mommy Lulu from the home. In the video, An-An was in a dark room, singing to herself, not going to bed, whenever Mommy Lulu talked to her, patted her, she’d started smiling so brightly, with her little round face, red as the apples (oh how I envied her for having enough collagen), and flashed out that row of silvery white teeth of hers.
I’d started smiling with An-An then, as I’d smiled, I’d thought, these thirty short seconds of daily goings-on, too ordinary, but, it’d been, long awaited for, too hard to come by in her three years of life.
An-An’s mother worked in a specialized workplace, not only were the days and nights flipped for her, she couldn’t get away from drinking with her clients, while An-An’s dad, he’s a noted, “boss”, and is surrounded by the complex people of his kind, to the point, that he had no clue that An-An’s mother was, pregnant. Due to the bad health status of An-An’s mother, An-An was born prematurely at only seven months, as her mother’s heart started weakening, and the mother having symptoms of seizures, before she had the chance of meeting her own mother, she’d been diagnosed with complications including hematoma in the brain, low birth weight, vanishing white matters of the right hemisphere of her brains, and she was sent into the incubators. Thankfully, the heavens gave An-An enough life forces, she lived in the incubators for almost three months, and finally was, allowed to, go home.
But, being discharged from the hospitals was the start of the challenges. The gynecologist said An-An had cerebral palsy, her limbs are stiff, that her body would often arch back, because of the lack of bone and muscle strengths, her head would bob around a lot, her sight, bad due to her brain being damaged, she would often have seizures that came out of nowhere…………An-An’s mother couldn’t handle the trials that she had to deal with with her own health problems, couldn’t take care of her own child and, she’d hired the around-the-clock nannies, until as An-An was almost three, she’d, vanished out of her daughter’s, life.
Since, An-An was assigned to a children’s home, and I’d, met her around this time.
The Trials in the Stages of Growth Now is, Necessary
The very first time I saw her, because she couldn’t move around, she can only lie on that tiny bed, and get moved around by the adult caretakers, she was so tensed by things happening around her, that came near her, to carried her up, put her down, that she’d started crying nonstop. I saw how she’d twisted herself into an unnatural pose out of stresses, that slim, tiny body of hers, with her mouth full of rotten teeth, other than feeling the heartaches for her, I’d known, that there will be, many more challenges up ahead for us both.
I’d matched her with the professional therapists, and, taught the primary caretaker of An-An, Mommy Lulu how to hold her correctly, to keep her still, and not fight against her twisting and turning in her arms; and how lying die, how to put her, to avoid her feet from getting twisted, her joints from being, deformed; and, how to feed An-An, so she doesn’t choke on her food, how to pull her tendons loose, to help her relax her body slowly………………and the physical therapy was nothing easy for the young child, her body that stayed stiff for close to three whole years, surely, the stretches hurt like hell for her, An-An started crying out in pain at the top of her lungs, and even though, Mommy Lulu told me she’ is “tough enough” to handle it, but, I saw how she’d, taken a deep inhale in before the torturing session of physical therapy began, showing how awful she’d felt for the child.
illustration from UDN.com
And yet, for the child’s mobility in the future, the development of her muscles, her bones, the trials, the pains in her current stage of life are a necessity. Other than the basics we’d utilized the donations from the kindness of the outside world to buy her what she needed, took her to the dentist, and watched her go from a kid with a mouth full of rotten teeth, to getting nothing but the, pearly whites in her mouth! Seeing how An-An slowly adjusted to life in the institution, and her emotions, schedules became more and more stable, finally came the day we send her to the Development Center for the first day of school.
The special needs instructor at the center set up a series of goal for An-An: from how long she is to stand up on her legs, how long her hands will support her body weight, the number of times she needed to train her grasping abilities, to learning to make sounds with her mouth, speaking, everything was specifically written down. In the trainings of day-to-day, she can now sit without falling off in the chair, to reach her hands toward the toys before her, two days ago, she’d even, fallen asleep standing on the standing rack! Seeing how she’d slowly adapted to the physical therapy, improving by the day, I’m really happy for her!
The handicaps in life couldn’t be avoided, but there’s also the love that came with it, now, there are a ton of moms in the facility An-An is placed in, along with a lot of stumbling, unsteady, not-yet-articulate, but always getting close to her to pat her, to hand her their toys, younger brothers and younger sisters who are roommates to her. And, although she will have a hard ride in life, but I’m sure, that being surrounded by those who love and care for her a whole lot, she will grow up with no problem.
And so, because this young infant girl was born unhealthy, she had a tough start in her life, but, she’s making progress, and her mother was way too irresponsible, dumping her out like she had, and yet, this young child is a survivor, and she will keep on surviving, I’m sure, and this still just showed, how important the early intervention programs in the early childhood years are, and, having these individuals who cared for her, who love her unconditionally, is also vital for this young child’s coming of age.
Life, the Obstacle Course 