The road to Ivy's Hemiplegia diagnosis
So my pregnancy with Ivy was pretty standard stuff. I had a few episodes of reduced movements and her heart rate was super high a couple of times but other than that it was completely normal. We had around 4 scans, 12 weeks, 20 weeks a detailed scan at around 24 weeks (checking for any signs of a heart defect/condition, due to myself having a heart condition) and a growth scan here and there. Nothing was picked up on any of the scans.
I was induced just 1 day earlier due to all the episodes of reduced movement. Delivery was perfect with no complications. Everything seemed perfect- another little girl to add to our family. We had her checks as usual 8 weeks, etc. All were fine nothing was picked up. I started to notice at around 3/4 months, she wasn’t giving her left side very much attention, not including it in play, not really using it, so I left it a little while to see if she was just being lazy. It didn’t improve. When our health visitor came around for the 6-month check, I mentioned the lack of use of her left side to her. She sat with us for an hour and agreed with me. She scheduled us a GP appointment for that day. We went to the appointment where the doctor assessed her and told me she wanted to refer Ivy to the paediatricians as she was unsure whether it was just a need of physio or whether there was an underlying condition.
Around 2 weeks later we had our appointment with her pediatrician, he examined Ivy and asked the usual questions about pregnancy, birth etc. He then went to get his consultant who also examined her. Then we were met with the heartbreaking news “I think Ivy has hemiplegia, a form of cerebral palsy.” I remember trying to hold back the tears, she booked us in for an MRI, physiotherapy and occupational therapy. I remember leaving the consultants room an emotional wreck. I knew something wasn’t right but I was not prepared for something so so big. She had her MRI within 2 weeks and a week later we were back in the consultant's room. We were told the MRI confirmed her suspicions. The brain damage was significant. Her brain hadn’t developed properly on the right side, of course, so many questions were going through my head, I asked how it could have happened. She told us that she doesn’t know what happened and we may never know what caused it but all she could tell us was something happened early on in pregnancy, that starved her brain of oxygen. She told us we were lucky she survived the pregnancy and that she was unsure if Ivy would walk, talk, etc. Here we are nearly two years later and Ivy has defied everything they said to us. Ivy is walking, her speech is second to none and she is matching her peers in all aspects. She truly is our miracle.
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