I am a young mother (19) of one, a little boy who will be a year old on 1/30/04. Ever since he was born, various members of my family have made comments here and there about my son's head being sort of large. However, I was taking him to every appointment with his pediatrician and it was never once mentioned by her. Then sometime in july of last year, I took my son to visit my sister, who was then working for an ophthalmologist (eye doctor). The doctor, who had only very rarely seen my son, made a comment to my sister that my son's head grown to be fairly large since the last time he'd seen him. This doctor then put in a call to my son's pediatrician, who wanted to see my son immediately. My son was taken to the appointment by my grandmother, and soon after, the pediatrician's nurse contacted me and told me that the doc wanted to make an appointment for a ct scan at all children's hospital in st. Pete, fl, because she found that there was fluid on his brain and wanted to make sure that there wasn't blood as well. I did not set up the appointment right away because I wanted to get a second opinion before taking my son 2 hours away to see a doctor in case nothing was wrong, which I told the nurse (this was on a thursday or friday). So I was asked to get back in touch with the nurse to let her know to set up the appt. I ended up not being able to afford the second opinion and just called the nurse back and told her to go ahead and set up the appt. I took my son to st. Pete the following monday and he ended up being admitted. A couple of days later, social services came in, alleging that whatever was wrong with my son was the result of shaken baby syndrome, a severe form of child abuse. After this, I was not even allowed back in the same room with my son by myself. I ended up having to come back home without him and he stayed in st. Pete until dcf came and did a home study on my grandparents' home to place him with them. This happened back in august...There are still a lot of legal issues being dealt with. Like my son's father (who hasn't had anything to do with him since he was about 3 mos. Old) is trying to get custody of my son, while he is sitting in jail for a violation of probation charge on an original drug charge. He is a 21-year-old, twice convicted felon, who lives at home with his parents and about 10 other people in a 3br/2ba trailor, doesn't not have a license, has never worked a day of my son's life, has never provided anything for my son...In the meantime, i've been working since my son was 4 months old, i've lived on my own or with a friend since about the same time, I have no criminal background whatsoever, etc, etc, etc.


What I really need to know is what are the different things that could have caused blood and fluid on my son's brain? I would never hurt my son, I love him more than anything in this world. If I was goign to hurt him, I never would have had him to start with...And I would have never let someone around him that I would think for one second would harm him in any way...I don't know if the collection on his brain could have been caused medically or during the birth process or even during pregnancy...I need to find something out, though, because dcf is trying to terminate my parental rights and give custody to his father who is nothing but a drug addict, a liar, and a thief...I don't know what I would do without my son...Please help?!?