4/27/13 One year ago, today, I found out that I was pregnant. I couldn't believe it! I almost expected it, and very much hoped for it, bu did not believe it. 4 months ago, I gave birth to the most gorgeous, sweet baby girl. We named her Abigail Kate. Abi, or Abi K for short. She is my world and I couldn't wait to get life started with her! Little did we know that life had something else in store for us. Abi was born with a gene mutation that results in neonatal epilepsy. We didn't know about the gene mutation until 10 days ago, so for 3 and 1/2 months we were clueless as to what was causing the seizures. As you can probably imagine, epilepsy brings a whole new set of challenges to raising a baby. Things that we be abnormal and for 'regular' babies are completely normal for Abi--So, in our instance, it is not abnormal, it's AbiNormal. My plan for this blog is to keep a journal, if you will, about all of Abi's AbiNormal behaviors and keep track on her progress as we deal with and fight this thing. She has had kind of a rough go at life so far and we are working on making her more comfortable. I plan to start from day 1 and outline how and when we realized this 'behavior' that we observed was indeed not just a newborn quirk, but was actually something more than that. At first we thought it was just something she did when she got angry, but soon realized instead that it was just the opposite...this behavior is what caused the stress and anger. In this blog I will outline what the seizures looked like, how long they lasted, and what we did for them. Abi today is doing much better overall, we still have quite a ways to go before we are in the clear of this (and we may never be) but we will never give up. We live life day to day and take this epilepsy thing step by step. There is no real consistency with the episodes, and in turn her behaviors, we just have to go with what the day brings..but no matter what the day was like, I go to bed every night thanking the Lord for this most wonderful blessing that has been put into my life.
This is AbiNormal.
My daughter Abigail was born having seizures. This is our story of diagnosing the problem and living with epilepsy.
Angela, I've got to say, I think you are pretty amazing. Reading your blog posts, I am amazed at the poise and the strength that you've shown while searching for answers and helping little Abi. There's definitely a reason she chose you as her mama. Proud of you, and eager to keep reading and learning about your family and this new journey.
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