My eldest son Sam was diagnosed with very mild Cerebral Palsy in Dec 2002.
He was a premmie baby, born 8 weeks early, due to a placental abruption. The labour was 24 hours long as the hospital prolonged the delivery to enable me to have steroid injections to help develop his lungs.
During the birth, the umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck, causing him to turn blue. He was ventilated for 16 hours. While he was still in hospital, he had a bleed in his brain, but they could not tell us how this would affect him, although they said it was only a minor bleed.
He had always been slow to do things, but this was put down to the fact that he was prem. However, when he started to go to daycare, they noticed things about him that didn't seem right for his age. So they suggested that we take him to a paediatrician to have him checked out.
The main symptom he had was walking on his toes constantly. This caused him to trip over his own feet as his centre of gravity was off. He also had very poor hand control, so simple things like drawing and dressing were a real chore.
He was diagnosed with hemiplegia, as both his right arm and leg were affected. However, both his legs are affected as the muscles will not relax enough for his heels to touch the ground, therefore he walks on his toes all the time.
We had plaster casting done to try and stretch the muscles in his legs, and then he had AFO's (ankle foot orthotics). This seemed to work for approx 6 months, but now when he has a growth spurt, he goes back to walking on his toes, so stretching exercises need to be done.
His fine motor skills are not the best. He is left handed, but we are unsure if he is naturally left handed, or is left handed because of the weakness in his right hand.
The school in our town has been fantastic. They have a Special Education Unit, but he is not bad enough to have to go there, so he is in the mainstream school. They have him involved in all the programs they can to help him with his fine motor skills, and this is ongoing. | 
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