My cCMV baby at nearly 2.

Just like most congenital issues, cytomegalovirus (cCMV) can present itself in many ways.  Each child has a different path ahead of them, different battles to fight and a different future ahead.  When Finn was born we were told that there was a 70% chance that he would survive and that the future would be complicated.  We took home our tiny son after 3 weeks of special care and embarked on a new adventure.

The first six months of his life, we seemed to spend more time in the hospital than at home.  The days were hard, but we knew we were lucky as well.   Finn was born symptomatic with an enlarged liver and spleen, a troubling white blood count and CRP levels (infection marker) through the roof.  His MRI showed abnormalities, but they were not sure how they would affect him.  After three difficult months, Finn started to grow and thrive and by six months he was still small, but getting there.  This month our baby boy will turn 2 and he is a determined, exhausting and beautiful nearly 2 year old.

In some ways you can see the effects of his troubled start - but we can never really be sure whether he would have been a bit later anyway.  At 11 months he started to crawl and at 18 months he took his first steps.  At nearly 2, Finn has come such a long way from the fragile newborn.  He is a chunky toddler who climbs on everything and knows his own mind.  His vocabulary is starting to expand and he has perfected his pronunciation of the key words - cake, milk, biscuits, snack and Cora.  He knows how to communicate far beyond his words and understands us well (other than when we tell him no).

This boy of mine is smart, sociable and ever so happy.  He knows how to charm everyone he meets, he has the biggest smile and he is full of energy.  You would never be able to tell him apart from another child his age, you cannot see the virus he was born with.

At a year old, he was signed off of his pediatrician, but he will continue to have hearing tests every few months for the foreseeable future.  As each test rolls around, I start feeling nervous, worried that things can't be this easy, that my music loving boy who dances to everything may start losing his hearing, but his test last month shows that he is still absolutely fine.  I can't spend my days worrying about what may happen so we are just quietly celebrating every victory and enjoying the typical toddler that he is.

We are so lucky that Finn is thriving, that he is one of the ones so mildly affected by cCMV.  Our journey may not continue as easily as the past year has been, there may be curve balls along the way, but I think this little monkey who has beaten the odds is going to continue to surprise us.  He has taught us the strength we didn't know we had and he brightens our every day.

CMV is a harmless virus unless you catch it for the first time during pregnancy, in which case it can be fatal for your unborn child.  It is passed on through bodily fluids and most commonly from children so if you are pregnant, never share food or drinks with children, kiss them on the forehead rather than the mouth and always wash your hands thoroughly after changing a nappy.