some recent message board posts

just a little capsule of some recent message board postings to have for the future.

i had blood drawn for quad screen, but the lab did the wrong test and never tested for down syndrome. i remember being outraged and calling the doctor to scream at her and demand another test. it was 1 day too late. i remember pacing the front lawn calling my husband at work to tell him what had happened and how much the lab sucked and all that jazz. it was the pregnancy hormones talking, because i was over it by the end of the call with him, and never thought about it again. until the moment sy was born and a specialist came over to tell me he had down syndrome before i ever got to hold him. that specialist ruined my first moments with sylas, but the rest of our lives with him could've been ruined by that silly test all those months prior. in hindsight, i'm SOOOO glad we didn't know, and i'm so glad we didn't become one of the 92% abortion statistics. back then, i don't think i would've been strong enough to have had him, but i would have missed out on the best thing that's ever happened to my world.


i am fortunate to live in an area where we receive PT, OT and a teacher weekly, plus a ST every other week. i must say, i love all of our therapists to death, but if i HAD to choose only 1 at a time, it would 100% hands down be sy's teacher. at sy's 1 year eval, he was 40% delayed in physical and feeding/occupational, which i believe is pretty normal for normal-functioning babies. however he was only 9% delayed cognitively. the norm in the ds world is that most kids don't walk until they're 2 or more, and the norm with ALL babies is that the brain develops 80% in the first 3 years of life (lifespan of EI). if the body will catch up in development and the brain "won't" (so to speak), it would be my number-one area to develop. my son took awhile to warm up to his teacher because he saw her only every other week, but he's been seeing her weekly for about 6 months and he can't wait to see her every week. she basically plays with and talks to him the whole time, but now that he's stronger, we play while kneeling, sitting, standing, etc., so he does get a little PT, and she works with his motor skills too in game play.