Hello everyone, my name is Bryan and almost 15 years ago my wife and I hear the worst thing ever. We were at our first ultrasound for our first baby and the doctor looked, looked again, left, 3 more doctors did the same and then he returned. He said in 20+ years he has never seen this...

Long story short, Skyler was diagnosed with congential in untero hydrocephelus. We were told we told an abortion would likely be the best decision for him and us (remember this is the cliff notes version, it was not that cold), we choose to "Keep Calm and Carry On!"

He had seizures starting at 2 weeks, and was on meds by 6 weeks, receiving OT by 3 months ... missed every milestone there is. s He was off the meds at 18 months, we feared the drugs were delaying his development. He had every therapy we could get him, and got him an Autism Dx at age 2.5 to gain more access to more resources. He did not talk until 4 years old, and when he did it was full sentences from the get go.

(oh my favorite story) When he turned 3 he was transferred to the School system, we had a big meeting, lots of evaluations, the song and dance. Thanks to a group call TACA I was really prepared for this. However, the School lady asked us what our goals were for Skyler. I replied "for him to start Kindergarten with his peers in a main stream class." She chuckled and replied you need to have realistic expectations for your son.

I am proud to say that Skyler started K with his peers and has never looked back. This has not been without its struggles ... he is currently repeating 7th grade because he missed 1/2 of the year last year dealing with mental health, self harm and suicidal thoughts. yea, feel good story has a new chapter.

The Hydrocephalus resolved before he was born, and the 3rd ventricles had reduced in size to within normal tolerances when he had his first MRI at 2 days old. he has had EEGs, MRIs and the like dome over the years as we dealt with night terrors, behavior issues, learning issues, etc.

The thing that was most interesting was a conversation with the ped neurologist somewhere in the first 3 years. That man, Dr. Brody, told us that Skyler suffered a massive traumatic brain injury, and may be dealing with this his entire life. How right he was.

So we have had countless doctors and professionals tell us that the in utero experience has nothing to do with his current state. He has been Diagnosed by these doctors as having ADD, ADHD, Bi-polar, depression, anxiety, and on and on and on. ... Each wants to put him on a cocktail of drugs to help him cope. None want to talk about the cause of the issue, and if that cause may alter the treatment plan.

Well in 6th grade (changing classes and hormones) things got bad. his anxiety grew, kids were cruel to him, and he did not understand it. he wrote a note that said he wanted to kill himself, and the school sent him to the hospital. We were forced to medicate him, more or less at this point, and have been doing that for about 18 months.

Yesterday we saw a new doc that LISTENED to us, and pulled him off everything but the anxiety meds. he said, Skyler had a brain injury. the result of that is that he does not deal with stress like we do, and the school environment quickly become too much for him. These meds are not going to help that, we need to do that through reducing the stress and teaching how to recognise and deal with it.

WOW!!!! The behavior issues we have been dealing with turned out to be mostly drug side effects. We can't wait for the drugs to clear his system so we can see that spark in his beautiful eyes again!

that was the short version ...
My question is regarding children that had Hydro early. What kind of issues do you all see as they go through puberty? How do you help the kids? Are there any resources I can turn to for more help?

Thanks for listening ...
Bryan