The Rebirth of Isabelle

• Leukomalacia, periventricular
• Early intervention (education)
• Pregnancy complications, infectious
• Cytomegalovirus infections

She was born at home like the first child, but her eyes looked different, slightly glazed. At first, everything seemed normal. She fed, cried, and slept. But all was not right.

The pregnancy had proceeded happily and uneventfully. A midwife herself, my wife Chrissie had taken excellent care of her health and prenatal nutrition. In the third trimester, her weight gain and the fundal height had leveled off—the first sign of a developmental problem. Isabelle's small size at birth, 6 pounds, 3 ounces, surprised us. This baby seemed birdlike, and my wife described her as an “ethereal being”—there and not there at the same time.

Our pediatrician called Isabelle “lazy” to roll over, and she did not sit up by herself until she was 11 months. By age 1, she made few attempts to crawl and dragged her left leg in an odd way. But as happy and tired parents, we saw only an adorable child, perhaps at the far end of the normal range for these milestones. A friend described her tone as “floppy.” By 17 months, she made many sounds but spoke no words. She did, however, sing through “Happy Birthday” in tune, making sounds that approximated many of the lyrics. As Isabelle rounded the 18-month mark, she still could not walk unaided.

A brief worried frown crossed our pediatrician's face as he expressed concern about Isabelle's clumsy gait, though her lack of speech still seemed within the normal range. Entering Children's Hospital for the neurology consultation gave me shivers as I viewed severely impaired children wheeled or walked by parents with weary faces. What had they all been through? I did not wish to find out. The neurologist was kind, thorough, and efficient, but I was embarrassed that I could not remember all of Isabelle's milestone behaviors …