Roll Call - very late

[Guest guest]

Hi - sorry this is a little (lot) late.

I'm and I've been married to Malcolm for almost 9 years. We have

a daughter Emma (6) and a son (3 ds). We live in Paradise in Sth

Australia. When I was pregnant we were told that my blood tests came

back as high risk for Down Syndrome and were given 1/128 odds. I

didn't want an amnio because I was too scared of losing the baby

besides all of that, the nuchal fold scan was perfect and the

ultrasounds gave no indication of him having Down Syndrome, so we

hoped for the best. Needless to say it was still a shock when he

arrived. was a breech delivery and I had all sorts of problems

afterwards. had a VSD repair when he was about 4 weeks old,

problems with aspiration in his lungs, fluid around the heart and a

slight leak in a valve. The repair went very well and he was home at

around 8 weeks. The heart/lung problems are over with now and he's a

very healthy, smart, cheeky boy with a wicked sense of humour who

loves music and dancing and has an obsession at the moment with

counting to 10, Hi 5, The Upside Down Show and Lazy Town. He is

starting to talk a little more and I can understand most of what he

says but there's still a long way to go on that front. I think because

of that it's easy to underestimate just how much he understands so I

have to stop myself from treating him too much like a baby.

The only real problem we have is his eating. He was very tactile

defensive when he was younger and although that is a lot better, his

eating hasn't improved. Everything has to be pureed. He eats cereal,

vegetables, yoghurt etc but it has to be blended so there aren't any

lumps or he will cough and splutter and sometimes throw up because of

the coughing. We can't clean his teeth because he won't let us get in

close enough without gagging. I don't understand though how he can put

a chunk of iceblock in his mouth and chew but has difficulty with

something the size of a grain of rice.

Emma and love each other to bits and are beautiful together.

There's something very special about the way they bond and the lovely

hugs and kisses they exchange. Emma's very protective of her brother.

I feel so proud to have them both and I wouldn't change either of them

(except the eating part). We have thought about having another child

but at 40 and hubby 51 I think we may have left it a little late.

I've really enjoyed reading all the posts and this group has certainly

helped me a lot.

Thanks