My story so far...

So there i was 18 years old, Homeless (Thanks Dad) and stood in the foyer of what could only be described as Hell (AKA St Patricks Hostel) surrounded by Satans minions (AKA Drunk old men)...anyhoo, i am stood there thinking "what the hell did i do to get here?" when a familiar face popped up from around the corner, it was my old friend Jon. Jon took me under his wing and helped me find my feet again, he introduced me to some of the more "Normal Inmates" (and trust me when i say there was nothing normal about the old boy who thought he was doing kung fu on a penguin, or the old boy who thought everyone was Burt Lancaster or even Mad Mark who was stock piling food for when he finally built his ark)...One of these was Shaun, now Shaun was on the more wacky end scale (he regularly conversed with a man made of Jelly) but one day Shaun told me he wanted me to meet his friend Jason...well there was me thinking OK he is going to take me to meet the Jelly man. So off we went to the temporary housing block. He told me to wait outside while he woke Jason up..."what dya mean she is outside?" "Oh god Shaun...gimme 2 minutes then bring her in" Ok, i thought, he sounds real enough, and mighty annoyed...Ooops!

Sure enough 2 minutes later i get dragged in, and there i meet Jason who looks at me with a lazy smile and says "y'allright sweetheart" Well instead of the usual retort of "Who you calling sweetheart" bugger me if i didn't go all girly and blush.

We spent the next few days getting to know each other and sure enough the spark i had felt was reciprocated. After a week we began dating, then one night 2 weeks after we had met, I decided i could so spend the rest of my life with him...so i got down on 2 knees (trust me one knee just wasn't stable) and said "will you marry me?" to which he replied "your kidding me?...right?" Wow talk about knock the wind from my sails "umm i can be kidding" He smiled at me and said "dya know what?...i would love to marry you!"

4 weeks later we were married, we moved out of the hostel and into a half way house while we waited for a flat.

Then in the August just 3 months later, i found out i was pregnant, we finally got our flat and we began preparing for the arrival of our first child.

One the 1st anniversary of us getting together our little lady Lily was born, she was 4 weeks early and arrived in the record time of 1 hour 40 minutes, weighing 6lb 8oz.

Then in 2002 her brother Charlie joined us, again 4 weeks early and in the even faster time of 1 hour 30 minutes weighing 6lb 6oz. However, when Charlie was 2 weeks he became very ill, we took him to the hospital where they did all kinds of tests...we were called into a room and the Dr with the kind of look in his eyes which can onlt herald bad news said "the results of the Lumbar Puncture came back and we have found bacteria in the spinal fluid and also around his brain" My heart stuttered; oh god what did that mean? was it brain damage? "Charlie has Group B Strep Meningitis" all i heard was the word MENINGITIS! and i was off, i jumped up and ran, my legs were pumping (i look back now and imagine i must have looked like Roadrunner, escaping from Wiley Coyote) and i burst through the main doors of the hospital looking for my mum (who had been sitting outside with Lily. Finally after calming down i went back in and found out that Charlie had already started the Anti-Biotics needed to make him better.

The 2 weeks dragged by and finally Charlie was allowed home. It was the best day of my life...my little fighter had beaten Meningitis.

Then on Charlie's 1st birthday i found out i was pregnant again.

Alfie was Born 3 weeks early and at the even faster time of 1hour 10 minutes weighing 6lb 3oz...(Now i must explain that the entire time i had been on different contraceptive pills, each pregnancy was unexpected BUT very very much WANTED)

We moved out of our little 2 bed flat and into Private accommodation, a little 3 bed semi.

Things were going ok. When Alfie was just 8 months old i noticed he was somehow different from his siblings...oh i know every child is different, but he was just starting to stand and one day he fell and cracked his head open on the corner of our fireplace, there was blood all over him and he didn't make a fuss. I ran him down to the DR's and they cleaned him up and put the glue on his cut and not once did he fuss, they told me to keep an eye on him make sure he didn't go to sleep for an hour or so and if he did to try waking him at regular intervals...thankfully all was well and life carried on. Then Lily dropped a pillow onto Alfie's foot and my god he screamed, it was the reaction i had expected from the fall but not from this.

3 years passed and Alfie started going to Pre-school, he didn't join in with the other kids, and he flitted from toy to toy, he never spoke, and was still in nappies while all his peers were being potty trained "it's Ok Leesh...he just might be a late starter" Jason would tell me. The school had to get 1:1 for him as he was becoming uncontrollable, they started teaching him Makaton which he would take to in spats.

When Alfie was 4 i found out i was pregnant again (at this time i was on the Depovera c Contraceptive Injection) what a shocker that one was, Harry was born 10 days early, and after 4 hours 47 minutes weighing 7lb 12oz (which meant we were able to get the anti-biotics into him before birth to counter any GBS...I wasn't offered them with Alfie even though it was in my notes and i told them) he came home and life again was good.

Then due to an Admin error Alfie missed his placement at school...he was put on the list and while we waited we began home schooling (now the whole time i had been asking our HV to put him forward for assessment...but she kept shaking her head).

I went back on the Depo and when Harry was 3 months old i found out i was pregnant again

Tommy was born 4 weeks early in 1 hour 20 minutes weighing 6lb 4oz.

When i was 30 week pregnant with Tommy, Jason had a vasectomy there was no way we were going to trust the injection or pill again. And a Potty training nurse came round to help us with Alfie who at 5 was still in nappies and showing no signs of trying...she tried everything then said to us, have you considered he could be autistic, she reeled off a load of signs she had noticed from Alfie over the weeks...Echolalia/stimming/lining toys up/ lack of eye contact/no facial expression/no speech. She then referred us to an organisation who would be able to help us. We had a pre-pre-assessment and the woman said she believed he needed to be assessed...and you know what i felt relief, finally someone was listening to us!

3 months after Tommy was born Jason and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary by renewing our wedding vows, it was the most amazing day...absolutely perfect

Then we had the Pre-assessment for Alfie, he was on what we consider his best behaviour and the DR told us within 20 seconds he knew Alfie was Autistic...i could see he was expecting us to break down and get upset...but all he had done was confirm what we already knew.

It didn't change Alfie, he was still the same beautiful little boy that we had always had, it just made us a lot more tolerant of his behaviours and that brings us to today...

It has been 4 weeks since his diagnosis, and nothing has changed, we are still (a year after he was due to start school) waiting for a school place for him at now 2 different schools, and we are continuing with his home schooling, he is making progress with his speech, and he is still in nappies.

My 5 children are my life, i adore each and everyone of them.

And as for Jason...well he is a saint and i love him with everything that i have.

So there you have it, i went on for a lot longer than i thought i would and i had to give the very edited version otherwise i would still be talking about what happened 10 years ago.

Hope i didn't bore you all too much, i will try and keep it shorter next time.