Flashback #5 - How has it been 6 months already?
Thursday, 15 September 2016
How has it been 6 months already?
I'm not sure how it happened, but I have a 6 month old daughter. We're trying solids, we're learning to roll... I never knew there was so much involved in rolling over... Emma receives funding as a child with a disability - funding for physio, speech, and occupational therapy - so we are currently attending physio and water therapy to keep her on top of her milestones. I'm learning all sorts of things about which muscles need to be strengthened in order to roll, sit, crawl and stand. It all makes sense once explained, and I find it utterly fascinating.
We don't go to physio often - just once every six weeks or so - as Emma is fairly 'typical' in her physical development so far. Our physio wants us to continue to see her periodically so that if Emma's development slows down she won't get left behind. We're also doing water therapy to complement the physio. We have to do water therapy in intensive blocks so we're doing this term and will start again in term 1 2017. It's such a strange new world, this world of funding and therapy and specialists and waiting lists.
In my first few posts I worried about finding people to support us. I worried about Mother's Group and Down Syndrome Victoria and not finding a home within both worlds. Those worries are GONE. The people at DSV are amazing. They're just normal, everyday people who all have this extra chromosome in common, but they are also a wealth of knowledge and resources. The parents in my local support group are the same. We're all just parents trying our best to do what our kids need us to do.... and that is bloody amazing. It's nice to feel normal around people who are your people.
My Mother's Group is also great. We were thrown together by the council, with nothing in common apart from having children in March 2016. 6 of us keep in touch, still meeting every week and complaining about the lack of sleep or the silly husbands or telling everyone how amazing our kids are for doing a poo. Our kids poo a lot, and we like to talk about it. We're starting to venture out to local cafes instead of hiding in someone's house now that we're all beyond caring what other people think about us. It's nice to feel normal around people who are your people.
I just realised that I finished the last two paragraphs with the same sentence. It's nice to feel normal around people who are your people. We're just people. People with lives that intersect and paths that cross and we all need support.
Support comes in many forms, and I decided to enrol Emma in daycare one day a week, for both of us. Emma needs to be around other kids her age, so that they encourage her development. I need some time for myself as well - I'm studying a Medical Transcription Certificate and I'm struggling to dedicate quality time to my study. One day a week is enough to make me feel like a person as well as a mum, but not enough to make me feel guilty for leaving her. She's been a couple of times now and seems to be settling in. It certainly helps that the director of the centre is a friend of mine so I get selfies sent to my phone of Emma 'working' in the bosses office. I know she's in good hands.
Emma is a joy. She's gorgeous and frustrating and clever and ridiculous and she drives me crazy but I love her to bits. My grandmother passed away last week, and before she did she asked me what the results of Emma's tests were. When she asked I wasn't sure what tests she was talking about so I asked her 'Which tests Gran?' She replied 'Is she going to be okay? Did the test say she would be okay?' 'Of course she is Gran. She's going to be just fine' I think she was talking about the genetic test we had to see which type of Down Syndrome Emma has. I don't know the results of that test because it no longer matters to me. I haven't asked. I didn't lie to my Gran, because Emma is going to be just fine. My Gran needed to know, and I needed to tell her. My Gran is at peace now, with her husband. I hope she watches over Emma for me, to make sure that she's okay, just like I know she will be.
I will try to write more often about our adventures. We do get up to some pretty fun stuff, along with spending a lot of time lying on the floor trying to roll, snuggling on the couch, and spitting out food. It's a great life.
We don't go to physio often - just once every six weeks or so - as Emma is fairly 'typical' in her physical development so far. Our physio wants us to continue to see her periodically so that if Emma's development slows down she won't get left behind. We're also doing water therapy to complement the physio. We have to do water therapy in intensive blocks so we're doing this term and will start again in term 1 2017. It's such a strange new world, this world of funding and therapy and specialists and waiting lists.
In my first few posts I worried about finding people to support us. I worried about Mother's Group and Down Syndrome Victoria and not finding a home within both worlds. Those worries are GONE. The people at DSV are amazing. They're just normal, everyday people who all have this extra chromosome in common, but they are also a wealth of knowledge and resources. The parents in my local support group are the same. We're all just parents trying our best to do what our kids need us to do.... and that is bloody amazing. It's nice to feel normal around people who are your people.
My Mother's Group is also great. We were thrown together by the council, with nothing in common apart from having children in March 2016. 6 of us keep in touch, still meeting every week and complaining about the lack of sleep or the silly husbands or telling everyone how amazing our kids are for doing a poo. Our kids poo a lot, and we like to talk about it. We're starting to venture out to local cafes instead of hiding in someone's house now that we're all beyond caring what other people think about us. It's nice to feel normal around people who are your people.
I just realised that I finished the last two paragraphs with the same sentence. It's nice to feel normal around people who are your people. We're just people. People with lives that intersect and paths that cross and we all need support.
Support comes in many forms, and I decided to enrol Emma in daycare one day a week, for both of us. Emma needs to be around other kids her age, so that they encourage her development. I need some time for myself as well - I'm studying a Medical Transcription Certificate and I'm struggling to dedicate quality time to my study. One day a week is enough to make me feel like a person as well as a mum, but not enough to make me feel guilty for leaving her. She's been a couple of times now and seems to be settling in. It certainly helps that the director of the centre is a friend of mine so I get selfies sent to my phone of Emma 'working' in the bosses office. I know she's in good hands.
Emma is a joy. She's gorgeous and frustrating and clever and ridiculous and she drives me crazy but I love her to bits. My grandmother passed away last week, and before she did she asked me what the results of Emma's tests were. When she asked I wasn't sure what tests she was talking about so I asked her 'Which tests Gran?' She replied 'Is she going to be okay? Did the test say she would be okay?' 'Of course she is Gran. She's going to be just fine' I think she was talking about the genetic test we had to see which type of Down Syndrome Emma has. I don't know the results of that test because it no longer matters to me. I haven't asked. I didn't lie to my Gran, because Emma is going to be just fine. My Gran needed to know, and I needed to tell her. My Gran is at peace now, with her husband. I hope she watches over Emma for me, to make sure that she's okay, just like I know she will be.
I will try to write more often about our adventures. We do get up to some pretty fun stuff, along with spending a lot of time lying on the floor trying to roll, snuggling on the couch, and spitting out food. It's a great life.
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