Secondary Labels and Diagnoses

Until having twins with mosaic Down syndrome, I thought I knew a thing or two about Down syndrome. Well I did know a thing or two, but that was about it. There are just so many aspects of this overarching diagnosis of Down syndrome. Beneath it almost always comes secondary labels and diagnoses. Expressive speech...

A Season of Rest and Hiddenness

Today is what I have just deemed a "recovery day." Me and the kids are taking it very slow and they are still in their pajamas at 8:50am while they watch Sesame Street and I eat my breakfast and type this. Lately both my body and brain have been telling me to rest, which it...

Barriers to Bonding with Baby (and How to Make Gains)

I didn't realize just how difficult it had been for me to bond with my first three babies until I had a fairly easy time of it with my fourth born. From conversations with friends, many new moms discover that bonding with their baby isn't as easy as they thought it might be. When there...

How We Value Others

Until my girls with mosaic Down syndrome were born, despite being a special education teacher and a Christian, topics like prenatal testing and abortion based on a prenatal diagnosis were only occasionally in my mind. I have always felt it wrong to abort a baby because they had Down syndrome, for example, but I didn't...

Raising Them The Same

If you have more than one child, or came from a family of more than one child, or have taught in a classroom, or basically have ever interacted with a group of people, you know that every person is just a little bit different! More than once, when people find out I have a daughter...

How to Support a Family Who Has a Child with a Disability

This topic can't be covered by one blog post, one person's perspective, or in one conversation. But I hope this can be a good starting point for a person wondering how to give help to a family who has a child with a disability. I wrote another post on helping a family with a new...

How to Support a Family Through a Disability Birth Diagnosis

The story of our girls' diagnosis was drawn out throughout the pregnancy and NICU stay, but the very short version is that we had a birth diagnosis of mosaic Down syndrome. I cannot speak to the experiences of those who had a prenatal diagnosis, those who have gotten a mosaic DS diagnosis much later (it...