31 for 21: Simply Love

Why am I involved in politics? Why do I care about these wars going on? Why do I care about abortions? Why do I care about the citizen in other countries? Why do I still have a brother with Down Syndrome? Why do I care about him? The answer is simply because of LOVE!

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31 for 21: Photo shoot time

Some of my siblings (including O, my brother with Down Syndrome) went outside a couple weeks ago to do a "photo shoot".

So here are some of the pictures they took -

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31 for 21: 15 Piglets Born!

On September 19th, 2012 one of my brothers' registered Duroc sows gave birth to 15 piglets! One or two were born DOA, and a few others were squished, so last I heard she had 9 healthy piglets left, which isn't bad for a first time sow. My sister got lots of it on film, and put a little video together.

So here you go -

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31 for 21: Exotic Animal Auction

On September 21st and 22nd, we went to the Exotic animal auction. My brother with Down Syndrome really enjoys the animals and gets very excited when we mention that an animal auction is coming up. It is about every 3 months that they have an Exotic animal auction, so he was thrilled to go to it.

They run all kinds of Exotic animals through it - anything for a tiny little bird to a huge bison bull. To mention a few animals that came through last time are - Bison, Yacks, Red Bucks, Elk, Llamas, Zebu, Camels, Watusi, Fallow Deer, big horned sheep, Audads, Ostrich, Donkeys, Wild Hogs and MANY other animals and birds.


We brought home a mini Zebu bull and 4 donkeys.

Here are some pictures -

 

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31 for 21: 10 Facts About Down Syndrome

I found this on here, http://mdbeau.blogspot.com/2007/08/10-facts-about-down-syndrome.html and thought I'd share.

"So here are some facts I wanted to share about Down syndrome; this list is not all inclusive as there are obviously more than 10 facts...but some of these may be facts that aren't well-known.

1. Down syndrome happens before conception; so there is nothing a person did, or didn't do, to cause it. It happens when the egg, or sperm, is produced with an extra copy of chromosome 21. Taking prenatal vitamins will not prevent Down syndrome.

2. Down syndrome is a Trisomy - meaning there are 3 copies, instead of 2, of any given chromosome. Medically Down syndrome is known as Trisomy 21 because it's the 21st chromosome that is affected; it's also the most common type oftrisomy. Down syndrome is not a disease.

3. There are 3 types of Down syndrome - the most common (about 95% of cases) is nondisjunction which is a 3rd copy of the chromosome in every cell.

Mosaicism (about 1-2%) happens when only some of the cells have the extra 3rd copy.

Translocation (about 2-3%) happens when the long arm of chromosome 21 is attached to another chromosome.

4. In the US, Canada, and some other countries, it is Down syndrome, not the possessive "Down's syndrome." (The UK is one country still using the possessive form.) In 1975, the United States National Institutes of Health convened a conference to standardize the nomenclature of malformations. They recommended eliminating the possessive form: “The possessive use of an eponym should be discontinued, since the author neither had nor owned the disorder.” John Langdon Downfirst described it in 1866, but he neither had it, nor "owned" the syndrome so it should not take on the possessive form ofDown's syndrome. (An example of possessiveness is ALS is also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, because he had the disease.) The 2 other common trisomies are 18 and 13, also known as Edwards syndrome and Patau syndrome - notice no possessive form on those syndromes.

5. While Dr. John Langdon Down first described the common characteristics of people with Down syndrome, it was actuallyDr Jerome Lejeune who first identified it as a chromosome 21 trisomy in 1959.

6. While the likelihood of giving birth to a child with Down syndrome increases with maternal age; nevertheless, 80% of babies with Down syndrome are born to women under 35 years of age, as women in that age group give birth to more babies overall.

7. Down syndrome is not related to race, nationality, religion or socio-economic status.

8. Down syndrome occurs in about 1 in 800 live births.

9. There is a wide variation in mental abilities, behavior and physical development in individuals with Down syndrome. Each individual has his/her own unique personality, capabilities and talents. In other words, people with Down syndrome are notall the same; just like individuals in the typical population are not all the same.

10. Life expectancy for people with Down syndrome has increased dramatically in recent decades - from 25 in 1983 to 56 today."

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31 for 21: A Little Story For You

I can hardly believe it's already October. This year has gone by so fast. I as you all know I have slacked like crazy on posting often, so hopefully I will be able to post everyday for this month:)


As some of you may know. October is National Down Syndrome Awareness month. Why do I care about Down Syndrome? Well, let me tell you a little story.

When I was 7 years old, my Mom was pregnant. When she was 24 weeks along, we found out she was pregnant with twins. We were so excited. The twins would be the 10th and 11th children in our family. From that point on, everything progressed pretty much normally for a twin pregnancy.

When my Mom was 37 weeks along, we went to the hospital and she gave birth to 2 beautiful babies. A boy and a girl. I was in the waiting room with some friends and family, and my 2 older sisters came running out to tell us both babies were born and everyone was fine. We all busted up into tears.

My dad was then told that "there was some bad news." Ok. "It looks like the little boy has Down Syndrome." Well, that is not that bad at all we thought! We didn't know much at all about DS, but quickly went to learning. My older sister Qadoshyah took it up as her project and spent her entire senior year of high school becoming an expert on Down Syndrome. She wrote a thesis as her graduation paper and went on to write an over 300 page book about Down Syndrome.

The girl was named Yophiyyah, which means The Lord is My Beauty. The boy was named Osiyyah, which means The Lord is My Maker. Osiyyah was hospitalized for 13 days, and was finally brought home.

Through Osiyyah's early months in life, there were many ups and downs. He had trouble gaining weight and had to be on oxygen for a few weeks. When he was 8 months old, we found out about a special nutritional supplement called Nutrivene-D, which is formulated for people with Down Syndrome. Within 2 weeks of him starting on that, he changed tremendously. He went from being a small, frail little boy who could not sit up. To a very plump, alert and happy baby. The changes were outstanding and to this day we are extremely thankful to have found out about Nutrivene. He learned to walk at 17 months.

"O", as we like to call him, is such a HUGE blessing to our family. Our life would be so boring without him! He brings so much joy to us. He is almost always happy and inquisitive. We often tell people we think every family should have a child with Down Syndrome, as they will really light up your world! If everyone was as happy as he is, there would be a whole lot more people smelling the roses and not as many complaints, that is for sure!

Osiyyah and his twin sister Yophiyyah are 7 1/2 years old now. They both really enjoy living on the ranch and like animals a lot. "O" really likes to help out with anything on the ranch, but really likes to help milk the goats. If he misses a milking, he tells us he missed milking "8 times!!'. It is hilarious. He likes to clean much more so than any other kid. And one of his most favorite things for my sister to make is fudge for him. He really enjoys dancing and singing, and gets into it when everyone else is practicing. He also, as the rest of the children in my family are, is a little "political junky" and talks about how you should vote for Ron Paul and shouldn't vote for Obama or Romney. He asks his siblings, "are you a Romney kid?" They say no. Then he tells us that he's a "Ron Paul kid". He is so smart :).

While he does have some speech issues and someone that doesn't know him typically can't understand everything he says, he can communicate with all of us just fine through his own little language.

So, that is Osiyyah's story summed up. I love him so much and my life would be so different without him.

And that is why I am blogging for National Down Syndrome Awareness month, because of my amazing little brother. Since I plan to blog every day the month of October, I hope to talk about many things related to Down Syndrome as well as my typical posts about our life. October should be a very very busy month for us, so I'll try my best to not miss a day!

Here is our Down Syndrome blog that one of my sisters runs: http://gotdownsyndrome.blogspot.com/

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31 for 21: "Kick-Off" Post

Join the 6th annual 31 for 21 blog challenge here - http://mdbeau.blogspot.com/2012/09/join-6th-annual-31-for-21-challenge.html

Here is one of my sister's 31 for 21 blog posts she did to "kick-off" the 31 for 21 blog challenge:

October means a few things....

....Fall is well underway
....the leaves are starting to change color
....the weather is starting to cool

But, it also means....

....it is Down Syndrome Awareness Month
....Buddy walks are going on around the nation 
....And it's the 31 for 21 Blog challenge 

What is the 31 for 21 challenge? The goal is to blog every day (31 days) in October for Trisomy 21 (Down syndrome). It doesn't have to be about Down syndrome, but the goal is to raise awareness about Down syndrome.

So, here we go! After not having blogged much at all for months....let's see how this goes. Scheduled blog posts will be my friend, I'm sure :).

Just to briefly describe what Down syndrome is....Down syndrome is a genetic anomaly where a child is born with 3 copies of the 21st chromosome instead of the usual 2. The average person has 46 chromosomes - 2 of each. But, a person with Down Syndrome has 47 chromosomes. Because of the extra chromosome, it causes multiple genes/proteins to be overexpressed, which leads to the characteristics (as well as certain health problems) associated with Down syndrome.

http://gotdownsyndrome.blogspot.com/2012/10/october-means.html

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