My moms, both of them! My sisters, all 5 of them and I have the most amazing friends around!
However a little less than a week ago I was introduced to a new group of strong women that I can already tell are going to be a Blessing in my life.
When we were in the NICU with Owen we had a wonderful nurse, who did not take care of Owen, but that came to talk to us. Stacey has a daughter Britton who has Down syndrome and Stacey and her husband also did not have a prenatal diagnosis. Stacey and I seem to have more in common than not as pertaining to having an intuition that our babies would be different. When she sat down and began to talk to Mike and me about her experience with Britton's birth and her feelings I looked at Mike and said, oh my goodness, these words are exactly what I am feeling. She gave me such an honest outlook on her experience and her family's experience into Britton's birth and I have to add my favorite word picture from her before I move on to the rest of these amazing women!
Think of the diagnosis of Down syndrome as a salad bar. Your kid is not going to have every health issue that goes with it. You would not pile up every topping on the salad bar onto your salad. Britton had low tone and a heart defect, Owen had low tone and feeding issues.
This seriously was exactly what I needed to hear!
Now last week I went to moms night out through the Down syndrome association of West Michigan, amazing organization by the way. So I initially thought that most of these women would be at least 40 and their kids would likely be at least 10 and I would have nothing in common with anyone but before mentioned Stacey. WRONG! Most babies born with DS are born to women under the age of 35. Each and every women there was awesome. Each brought something to the table and each seemed like they appreciated what the other brought to the table. I cannot explain how amazing it was to sit with a group of women who have been where I am. Who look at their child with DS and would not change it, would not fix their child's DNA for anything and see each and every one of their kids as a mind blowing Blessing. We sat and ate and had some drinks and shared in this amazing common bond that our kids are different. And I feel like everyday they celebrate different, yes celebrate. Are they honest? Of course! There are issues that arise but you know what is great about this group of women? They listen. First. After they listen they think if any possible resource that could help the issue and then as far as I can tell would make it happen for one another. They come from all walks of life. Some work full time, part time, stay home with their kids. Religious or not. Married or not. First time moms or a mom of 6. We share this common bond, a bond none would change and a bond I am beyond thankful for. I hope some of these women have read this and know how amazed I was at each and every one of them. I look forward to getting to know each of them better and watch Owen grow up with their awesome kids!
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