Elijah didn't breathe for seven minutes after birth. The doctors said he'd recover. They said autism was possible. Three years later, the diagnosis came. It still doesn't explain him.
December 11, 2016. Elijah didn't breathe for seven minutes after birth. He'd aspirated meconium. The doctors diagnosed hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy — HIE — brain injury from oxygen deprivation. They said it wasn't severe. They said he'd recover.
They warned that autism was possible. It was one word on a list: epilepsy, developmental delays, autism. At the time it felt abstract. Something that probably wouldn't happen.
For a while, it looked like they were right. Elijah smiled. He laughed. He looked right at you. The commercials said to watch for no broad smiles by six months, no eye contact, no connection. Elijah had all of it.
Then the speech didn't come. Patterns emerged. Doors got narrated. Toys lined up in rows he called tunnels. Spinning things never stopped being fascinating. At three years old, the diagnosis came.
A birth injury. A label that doesn't match. A kid the system still can't explain.
The photo Daniel took twenty feet down the hallway. Elijah had aspirated meconium. He didn't breathe for seven minutes. This is where it starts.
No broad smiles by six months. That's what the commercials said to watch for. Elijah smiled like this every day.
No eye contact. No connection. The signs they said to watch for. He had all of them.
Elijah and his dog. The diagnosis was already there by then.
The same eyes. Still looking right at you. The EEG cap was to check for seizures. He doesn't have them. One more test that tried to explain him and couldn't.
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