Marcus

First of all I’d like to introduce myself. I’m Nicole and my son is named Marcus. Marcus was born at 38 weeks, weighing 6pound 13ounces from an emergency ceaser as he was going into distress. When delivered he was not breathing, tachycardic, and after resuscitating they noticed he had an enlarged spleen and low platelet count. This was because of CMV. He was taken to the neo-natal ward and extensive tests were done. My son looked like a pin cushion. After 6 hours I actually got to meet him (I had a brief 2 seconds to see him before they rushed him off after I’d had the ceaser).

For the next 24 hours Marcus was kept in NICU and was monitored closely. After being diagnosed and when he was well enough we were discharged, still not knowing what CMV was, what it would/could do, or why I wasn’t told about it in the first place. I was offered no support and felt like Marcus was the only one in the world to have this.

The first few weeks were rocky with changing to formula as my milk dried up and Marcus had reflux. At 5 weeks we were back in hospital and he was treated for failure to thrive. Marcus was not putting on any weight and vomiting up most feeds due to severe reflux. For 12-24 hours Marcus was fed via a nasal gastric tube which gave his stomach time to recover from what ever was upset. 3 days later he was released and things weren’t so bad. Because of the reflux most of his time was spent upright in a bouncer. Even for sleeping. The reflux stopped being so severe at around 9 months. He never had the chance to do tummy time or spend time in water as we had to try and keep what ever food we could in his belly.

At 9 months old Marcus started physio as he wouldn’t sit. He only started crawling properly the day after his first birthday. He had seen Physio, speech and OT therapists weekly-fortnightly up until his second birthday. This was when he finally started to take some little steps and walking was FINALLY becoming a reality.

At age 2 we moved up to Emerald in Central QLD where allied health is a lot harder to access so it took a full 9 months to be seen by a paediatrician. Marcus has been seeing DSQ (Disabilities Services Queensland) since the beginning of the year on a monthly basis. His Speechy and OT/Physio have been great and helped with the setup of his food therapy.

Within the year of being 2 and 3 we have had developmental delays when it comes to talking, fine motor skills, toilet training and understanding simple requests. Marcus is almost four now and he has finally begun talking with single word phrases of 60-75 words and he’s using the potty.

We’ve had a full on four years, but we are very grateful that Marcus wasn’t affected severely.

Shared by his mother, Nicole