Post by mashpotato on Jan 26, 2006 10:22:06 GMT
not that most of you haven't heard my story a million times before but i thought I'd add it.
I became pregnant with Saul when Rob and I were 18 and at college. We had planned to have a baby but it was still a shock when it happened. I decided not to tell my Mum until after the first scan in case they picked up any problems. I knew nothing of disabilities, and was worried i couldn't look after a disabled child, so probably would have aborted.
We had the scan and the naucal fold test (sp) as it was done routinely with the scan. We were told everything was fine and went for the blood test. The results of which showed chances from 1:3000 - 1:180,000, we weren't told which was for which condition just that the results combined with our age made our chances so slim we certainly had nothing to worry about.
I had 4 scans in all as they thought he was small for my dates, but concluded as we were slim and he looked fine, everything was good.
After Saul was born about 3pm Rob held him while i slept, and a Midwife came to take Saul while i went for a bath. After which she told us they had a single room free, we thought this was a bonus as they were £30 a night. She bought us Saul and said 'we're getting a paediatrician to come and see you.' She left us alone and i was very confused. My mind blanked and i knew the title but not the job of this person, and i didn't remember being told this was a routine thing.
The Midwife came back a while later and we asked her why, 'we believe he has Downs syndrome' and she left us alone.
I looked at Saul but was scared to pick him up, not knowing what Downs was i was scared it would hurt him. Rob bought him over to the bed, but neither of us could see anything different. I wasn't used to looking at babies but Rob being the oldest of 7 had helped his mum with his siblings.
My Mum came in about 6pm with my brother, but the paediatrician didn''t turn up till about 7pm. She was hard to understand, as she came from another country and her accent was strong. Also she wasn't the pad for our area so knew nothing of what was offered to help us.
She pointed out tiny things the midwifes had noticed, like extra eyelid fold, shape of the eyes, flatter head and a single crease but just across one palm. They did the blood test and we had to wait 3 days for the results, we went to SCBU for a ECG which showed two small holes.
Although the hospital staff were unhelpful and treated us like they were always feeling sorry for us, i did find help. There is a disabled children's centre in my area, and they came out to see us, they told us about all the work they do, physio, feeding clinics, speech therapy and that they would put Saul on the list for when he was about 3 months.
The centre have been fantastic, you can ask them anything, they helped us send off for DLA and the Family Fund. They come out to see you as well as you having appointments there. They are great with the children and know them all. It's just a shame they leave the centre when they start school because i know Saul will miss it.
I became pregnant with Saul when Rob and I were 18 and at college. We had planned to have a baby but it was still a shock when it happened. I decided not to tell my Mum until after the first scan in case they picked up any problems. I knew nothing of disabilities, and was worried i couldn't look after a disabled child, so probably would have aborted.
We had the scan and the naucal fold test (sp) as it was done routinely with the scan. We were told everything was fine and went for the blood test. The results of which showed chances from 1:3000 - 1:180,000, we weren't told which was for which condition just that the results combined with our age made our chances so slim we certainly had nothing to worry about.
I had 4 scans in all as they thought he was small for my dates, but concluded as we were slim and he looked fine, everything was good.
After Saul was born about 3pm Rob held him while i slept, and a Midwife came to take Saul while i went for a bath. After which she told us they had a single room free, we thought this was a bonus as they were £30 a night. She bought us Saul and said 'we're getting a paediatrician to come and see you.' She left us alone and i was very confused. My mind blanked and i knew the title but not the job of this person, and i didn't remember being told this was a routine thing.
The Midwife came back a while later and we asked her why, 'we believe he has Downs syndrome' and she left us alone.
I looked at Saul but was scared to pick him up, not knowing what Downs was i was scared it would hurt him. Rob bought him over to the bed, but neither of us could see anything different. I wasn't used to looking at babies but Rob being the oldest of 7 had helped his mum with his siblings.
My Mum came in about 6pm with my brother, but the paediatrician didn''t turn up till about 7pm. She was hard to understand, as she came from another country and her accent was strong. Also she wasn't the pad for our area so knew nothing of what was offered to help us.
She pointed out tiny things the midwifes had noticed, like extra eyelid fold, shape of the eyes, flatter head and a single crease but just across one palm. They did the blood test and we had to wait 3 days for the results, we went to SCBU for a ECG which showed two small holes.
Although the hospital staff were unhelpful and treated us like they were always feeling sorry for us, i did find help. There is a disabled children's centre in my area, and they came out to see us, they told us about all the work they do, physio, feeding clinics, speech therapy and that they would put Saul on the list for when he was about 3 months.
The centre have been fantastic, you can ask them anything, they helped us send off for DLA and the Family Fund. They come out to see you as well as you having appointments there. They are great with the children and know them all. It's just a shame they leave the centre when they start school because i know Saul will miss it.