James was born July 2013. Younger brother to Sophie and Annie. We were all very excited about the arrival of our new baby who was to complete our family . We didn’t know if James was to be a boy or girl before his birth so we were delighted we had a ‘blue ‘ one!

 

Pretty soon after James’s birth it was clear that the doctors were concerned. He was floppy and showing signs of Infection. He was sent to the neonatal ward soon after his birth and was placed in oxygen and fed via an NG tube. The following few hours were fraught. Some hours later we were given the news that James , more than likely , had Down syndrome. We were devastated and I immediately blamed myself. I’ll put that down to hormones combined with complete Ignorance! James spent his first month in the neonatal ward. He came out when he was one month old only to return 24 hours later. This was to be the pattern for the next 6 months. We got on with it but life was tough and uncertain. We were dealing with a poorly baby who needed help with breathing and feeding. I remembered being so upset about not being able to feed him myself.

 

In the early days we worried that we’d burdened his sisters. I feared life was never to be the same again .. as the months went by James became fitter and stronger. Our poorly baby with a diagnosis became our beautiful boy with his own personality and was loved very much by all of us . We were given a milestone of 2 years for James to return to good health and we celebrated his birthday with a huge party. James has gone from strength to strength . He walks talks ,makes us laugh , drives us insane , goes to mainstream school and is loved by his peers and his teachers. He hasn’t burdened his sisters. He’s helped to shape them into kind caring kids who now have an empathy with disability that they never had before. He’s simply a superstar and he’s taught us all so much about what’s important. In those early days I remembered reading a quote from the DS handbook . It read ‘ what starts out as the problem becomes the solution ‘ how true.. ...

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