Our Babies

Our Babies
Luke and Claire

"Welcome to Holland"

By Emily Perl Kingsley, 1987. All rights reserved.


I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......

When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."

"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."

But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.

The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.

So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.

It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."

And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away...because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss. But...if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

2 months!

Happy 2 month birthday, Luke!!! Unfortunately, Luke's version of 2 month birthday celebration involved getting three shots and an oral vaccine :( I am pretty sure that it was way more painful for me than it was for him. However, other than the no fun shots, there was nothing but good news at his appointment. The little piglet is now 23 inches and 10 lbs 15 oz!! This puts him in the 50th percentile for typically developing kids, and, since babies with Down Syndrome follow a different growth chart, he's above the 75th percentile on this chart. The doctor kept complimenting Luke on his happy alertness. She's not concerned about anything since we already have both occupational and physical therapy lined up to start next month to help with the low muscle tone.

Well, the shots just wore the little dude out. He immediately went to sleep...for the entire day. This was excellent because I had to say goodbye to our guests, Brian and Laura, work on homework, mow the lawn, and pack for our first trip home with Luke! We can't wait to see everyone because there are ssssoooo many people for Luke to meet! If you're reading this, his baptism fiesta will be Saturday night at Patrick's parents' house. Call Patrick or I for details, and we hope you can make it.

Here's a picture of our friend, Brian, spending a little time with Luke and the puppies.

2 comments:

  1. The Carter'sJune 17, 2010 at 8:25 AM

    HAPPY 2-month BIRTHDAY Luke;-) I agree, shots are way harder on momma than the kiddos! Have a great trip back home!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ronnie and SuziJune 17, 2010 at 9:01 PM

    I can't believe you found the time to post too!! You really are amazing Miss Multitasker!! :) Happy 2 month Luke!!! Happy Baptism Day too!!

    ReplyDelete

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