I met a mum....

Actually, tonight I met two mums. (one of the nice things about being at Ronald McDonald House).
The first was a mother with a 15 month old with DS. She is coping with disabilities herself, and her son has multiple health issues on top of the DS. I have told her about our little family here, so hopefully she will stop by and say hi.
The second, and the reason for this post, is a 20 year old girl who is staying here while her little 26 weeker is in the NICU. This girl suffered brain damage (and almost died) at 2 months of age when her drunk father threw her against a brick wall. . She is probably at about a 10 year old level.
But she has a lot of younger siblings (including a 5 year old sister with DS!), and she learned a lot about helping with them. Because of this, she has grown up pretty competent. She was talking to me about breastfeeding, and how important it is for her little girl. She showed me a picture (a real cutie!). She was telling me her plans for the future, and that she and her partner are getting engaged next year, because it is important for her baby to always know both her parents!
Her mother has told her she will be a good mum, because she is so good with kids, and she looks after herself and her siblings well. At this stage, she thinks she won't need extra help because of her disability. She has already set plans in motion to make sure she doesn't forget to do anything that she needs to do.
Isn't that awesome? I can imagine Samara being at at least that level when she is an adult. (well, going by so far, I know there are no guarantees for the future (with any of our kids!), but so far she seems pretty smart). And I can imagine her being just as competent. And whether or not she actually becomes a mum, seeing this young lady has given me a real boost!

That is an awesome story so terrible to hear about what her father done to her though. It is amazing to hear that there are people out there that are doing so well for themselves with diabilities it's all about how determind and how much they are encouraged to do things. If we allowed our children to lay around and do nothing and not encourage them to the best of our abilities then where would they be. :-) So awesome to hear though and brings some positivity to some of us (or many of us) of the uncertainty of what the future holds ofr us and our children. Thank you for sharing

It's cool isn't it? She is actually from out your way. Who knows, you may meet her yourself, if her mother is involved with the DS groups out there! LOL

Carolyn, that is awesome. It is always great to hear stories like that.. Does give us hope for the future. Is not good what happened to her as a baby though.

So the girl has DS or just her sibling? Because more than one child with DS in a single family is quite rare. There is a local family here who have 2 members of a family with DS but they are cousins. That's the closest related I personally know. (bit off topic sorry)

GREAT story too. What an amazing girl.
Just have to comment on the ass-wipe of a father she had though... hope he is serving time for that.
Emily's 'sperm donor' said he would do that to her next time he heard her cry... needless to say he was NEVER left alone with her ever again not even for 5 minutes. Some people don't deserve life full stop.