Ds Parents: Online Community + Support

I’ve come to the personal realization that part of why individuals with Ds have more acceptance and inclusion is due to social media. Truly. By families showing their typical lives and what life is like with a child who has Ds, the general public is realizing their preconceived notions of Ds are pretty wrong. 

I still frequent the Babycenter message boards to find newly diagnosed Ds pregnancies or births. A lot of us Ds Moms tell our stories and show photos - reassure terrified parents that life will be normal. 

THIS is appreciative. THIS is what I want everyone to understand.

I had an online chat with another Mom about painting life too “flourishy.” Our lives are a joy with our children, but we admittedly have more hurdles and very hard days, too. Personally, I probably over-compensate the Ds joys to convince prenatal diagnoses to continue their journey and not terminate simply because of an extra chromosome.

The hard days are more in my own head/my own emotions. I cringe when people whine about petty things. It stings when people say “We had a DNA scare,” “Thank God he/she was ‘healthy’ and ‘normal.’” I slip away when parents start talking about milestones. I nearly smacked a fellow Ds Mom when she whined about her daughter walking by age two. I looked her in the eye and said “Well, I’d be happy if Hannah was crawling at two.” I think she realized what she was complaining about and replied, “It’s all relative, isn’t it?” Yes, it is.

I follow so many parents’ blogs. I bookmark their posts for future reference and reassurance. Kelle Hampton was one of the first Moms I followed after Hannah’s diagnosis. She wrote a book about her daughter’s birth diagnosis and the year after. 

Bloom

She posted this a short while back that made me smile and know I’m doing it right and a lot of people have my back: