My Coeliac son and his home-made garage

I'm sat watching my practical half making a garage for our son. He'll be 3 on Saturday..bless him..we're lucky we still have him..
From his first appearance, he's had to face various challenges..not like some, I admit, but scary nonetheless..
He was a caesarean birth as I had placenta praevia. I lay there, numb from below the chest to my toes, tilted at an 'I'm gonna fall' angle, happily listening to chilled music and excited to be so close to meeting my son..
Then everyone started to shout and panic..the doctor had put her hands in to grab by precious baby and he decided he didn't want to come out and flipped round, with the cord tightening around his neck by the second..a whole two minutes passed before we heard him cry, and another two 'til we got to see him and touch him..

At eighteen months old he got a gastroenteritis (?sp) type thing that just didn't go away..dismissed by various professionals as 'winter bugs'..for 6 bloody months..
He also wasn't walking or even pulling himself up..he was a bum-shuffler and it was put down to laziness. He went for physio, and screamed the place down whenever the lady assigned to him tried to do anything with him aside wiggle her exaggerated posterior in the air..at this he laughed. She assured me that it wasn't hurting him, but I'm his mother, and his cries communicate with me like no-one else..
In the end, after he'd dropped down to 15lbs at 2 yrs old..he'd stopped shuffling..his healthy appetite had completely diminished..he was fading away and it seemed like no-one could help..I did the no-no and typed his symptoms into the internet..
Then I took him back to the doctor the next morning and told him that my son had Coeliac disease..I know they don't like that, and I wouldn't dream of telling anyone who's studied for hundreds of years how to do their job, but my beautiful little boy was losing his fight and no-one seemed that bothered..anyway, he took poo samples to eliminate salmonella etc (why hadn't that been done before?) and agreed to give me a prescription for some gluten-free bread, pasta etc..

Coeliac - your immune system attacks gluten as if it's a virus and then destroys the villi on the stomach lining..the 'fingers' that absorb nutrients..symptoms include joint pain, bloating, diarrhoea, nausea, weight loss etc etc

Within a week of changing his diet, my boy was pulling himself up on the furniture, eating, gained a couple of pounds, and pushed out a proper poo!

Within a month he was walking..and happy, gaining weight nicely..all good.

He's a tiny thing..he looks 2yrs old, not nearly 3..and we have to watch him..the tiniest mouthful of gluten, or playing with normal playdoh, and he's ill..

He eats like a man to sustain his tiny frame, and when he's poorly now..like the last 10 days he's been down with Glandular fever with a secondary infection..he just shrinks..

Still, I know he's on the mend, because all I've heard all day is 'I want food to eat.'

There are much worse things to have and deal with, and once he's passed the taking his own lunchbox to friend's birthday parties etc, he'll be fine..they even do gluten-free beer now..

His garage is starting to take shape..I can't wait to get my paintbrushes on it..

Teamwork..he's the practical and hands on..I'm the creative head in the clouds..if we had each others traits my house would be proper clean..x