It's only taken me a year to create this blog and begin sharing our struggles and victories with our son Gabriel born with Down Syndrome. :)
When Gabriel was born we had no idea that anything was wrong. When we went to the hospital, we assumed that we'd be home in a day and life would be just fine.
It all went down hill when he was first born and not breathing. They rushed him away. I wasn't even able to see him. Of course, we were quite concerned. About an hour later a doctor came in and said that breathing problems are common for children with Down Syndrome. We looked at each other and looked at the doctor with great concern and confusion. Were they telling us our precious baby had a genetic disorder?! We were shocked. The next few hours were filled with various nurses and doctors bearing bad news. On top of that I wasn't able to go to the NICU to see him for 7 hours. That was due to my state as well as them closing the NICU for 2 hours for shift changes!
I'd have to say that that was one of the most painful days of our lives. All the dreams came crashing down. You can imagine the tears that wouldn't stop flowing.
I was able to see him one more time that night. And that was the first day.
The 2nd day: I was preparing to go visit Gabriel when a doctor and a nurse arrived at my bedside. They said they had good news - they weren't smiling. The good news was he was off the ventilator and breathing on his own. The bad news was that they discovered an inperferated anus and he was to be rushed off to the nearest Children's Hospital. They said if I wanted to see him I needed to go immediately because the transport was about to arrive to take him. There was a deep feeling of having absolutely no control. All that had been discovered and the calls made and almost done before anyone bothered to tell us!
I was able to see him and hold him for the first time for 2-3 minutes before the transport arrived and took him away.
I rushed back and had myself discharged to follow him to the new hospital. When we finally arrived we bumped into Gabriel in the hallway on his way to surgery!
The surgeon met with us and explained that this problem would require 3 surgeries over the following 6 months. :( You know how you'd like to just wake up right about now? It was unbelievable. Unfortunately, it continued to go downhill. Those 3 projected surgeries actually turned into 10! Not all for the same problem but still, too many.
I'll stop at day 2 for now. :) The good news is that there is good news. I'll get to that shortly.
About Me
- Constance
- We came to Central America from CA so our kids could learn Spanish & a new culture. Gerardo is from Costa Rica so that seemed the logical place to come. We are stay at home parents, running a successful home business. It allows us to work from anywhere in the world so we decided to embark on this adventure. We left for C.R. in June 2011 & found ourselves living in luxury behind iron gates & armed guard! The traffic was horrific & no one had time to visit. We've always wanted to be self sufficient & since the kids weren't done with their language, we decided to move to Nicaragua, where life is much slower. We're developing our land & teaching locals how to care for the earth. They haven't seen most of the fruits & vegetables common to us. We feel we are here for a reason, not just for ourselves, but to teach those around us. They are eager to learn & fascinated with our new plants & food. And we have a lot to learn from them! I'm excited to share those things with you as we go through this journey together. You'll see our ups & downs which change by the hour. Some times we are excited to be here and other times we feel like running home.
Hello Constance, You have so much to tell I'm sure. I was trying to set up the same type of blog with the same address and that is how I discovered your blog. As a mother of a son born in May 2010 I am interested to know more about your experiences. What has become of Gabriel and what support do you receive in Nicaragua?
ReplyDeleteSome of what you have written is so recognizable it can be breathtaking to read. That moment of realization, the medical processes which disrupt the moments you expected to share with your child and family and friends.
I always wanted to write about my thoughts, feelings and experiences but only now do I feel able to without too much emotional burden. If I manage to significantly achieve a blog of my thoughts, feelings and experiences, I'll post you my blog address. :)
Kate
Started...: standingupfordownsyndrome.blogspot.com
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