31 for 21: 5 years ago - By my sister

Here is a post that my oldest sister (Qadoshyah) did 5 years ago when O was only 2 years old.

"Looking Back Through The Past Two Years

I remember when mom was in labor.

I remember when mom was taken to the OR to deliver the twins.

I remember when Ezzy & I stood in the hallway outside of the OR awaiting the twins arrival.

I remember when the NICU nurses whisked the twins by us in the hallway.

I remember when I burst into tears after seeing their precious and tiny faces.

I remember when Abba came out of the NICU saying "it looks like the little boy may have Down syndrome."

I remember when the first & only thought I had was "that's not bad", and I purposed to be there for him.

I remember one of the first times I saw him he was under an oxygen tent and so tiny.

I remember when the twins were so tiny; their heads were smaller than the palms of my hand.

I remember when the doctors suspected he might have a hole in his heart.

I remember when he had the echocardiogram on his second day of life . . . how we waited and watched in silence for the word. After silence for a few minutes the man who did the echocardiogram said, "Everything is good." Tears of utter joy and thankfulness to God were shed.

I remember when Stacey A. heard the good news about his heart, she about dropped the pizza on mom!

I remember when he gave a little smile at only two days old.

I remember when mom tried to nurse him one of those first few times; he just laid there and wouldn’t do anything. We had to hold the oxygen on his face.

I remember when he had all those IV's in him. And, a feeding IV in his umbilical cord. The tape from the IV's were hurting and cracking his fragile skin (we had the nurses fix that).

I remember when he had the IV taken out of his umbilical cord at 3 days old. I almost passed out!

I remember when he was moved into an incubating bed because he wasn't keeping himself warm . . . now the oxygen was in his nose.

I remember when we would open up that bed to hold him, or just stick our hands through the holes to be able to touch and rub him.

I remember when we would take him out to hold him, or try to have him nurse; we had to be so careful about the IV's and all the cords that were on him. We had to watch his O2 sats too.

I remember when his little arms and legs had the IV's in them and that stiff board taped around his arms and legs.

I remember when we would try to give him a bottle in that incubator bed and he would just lay there and hardly do anything.

I remember when he had a gavage tube in his nose so that he could be fed and gain some weight.

I remember when she was discharged, after 6 days in the NICU. It made it very difficult because she couldn’t go into the NICU anymore.

I remember when we would have to leave him in the NICU. He would be awake, with his big, bright eyes starring at us, and we’d have to lay him down in that little bed . . . with no one by his side. That was so hard and sad!!

I remember when we did the "24-hour-boob-a-thon"! Going in every 2 hours so mom could nurse him. We had to show that he could come home and survive!

I remember when mom proved to the nurses that she could care for him at home . . . we just wanted him to come home with us!

I remember when the doctor agreed to let him come home after 13 days in the NICU. We were praisin' the Lord!!

I remember when he came home. I spent hours just sitting on the bed holding him, since the oxygen tanks were hard to haul around. But, we eventually started carrying him and his O2 tanks everywhere!

I remember the so many trips we made back and forth to the hospital to "weight checks" on him every couple weeks to make sure he was "surviving."

I remember when we'd question the docs, go back and forth with them and show them that he was fine with the slow weight gain he had. Little did we know what we'd find out in just a few months, the answer was right there the whole time.

I remember when he was able to get his oxygen off. 6 weeks after being home.

I remember when the docs questioned mom on vaccines for him. I'm so thankful for the speech she gave them – they were silenced. Praise the Lord we did not vaccinate him.

I remember when we had the last appointment at Olive View, what a relief we did not have to go back.

I remember when we found Dr. Kolchins. We were relieved to find a doctor who seemed to know a little about DS, we didn't have to tell him everything.

I remember when he called and said his thyroid was "borderline-hypo." We were kind of sad, but thankful that it was just that and not something worse. Little did we know that he had this problem since BIRTH!

I remember when we asked the doc for time to research. It was amazing what we found!

I remember when we started finding out what hypothyroidism was . . . it explained him to the tee!

I remember when we found out about TNI. We thought the info looked good and we had nothing to loose, but all to gain. God used TNI to improve his life SO much.

I remember when, after just days and within weeks of giving him TNI, he started to gain weight, look so much healthier, his face filled out and was not skinny anymore, he didn't look sickly and scrawny anymore, his hair started to grow, he started to grow, his tone improved greatly, and he started exceeding in gross and fine motor skills tremendously.

I remember when we went back to Olive View and got his blood work records. We were shocked to find out that he had major thyroid problems at birth. We were told his thyroid was fine, when it was not. Knowing this could have changed those first 8 months tremendously! But, praise God we were able to find out about his thyroid and TNI when we did!

I remember when he learned to sit . . . only a month after starting TNI. His tone was so improved!

I remember when he learned to drink from a sippy cup at 10 mths old.

I remember when he could stand at 12 months. God had improved his life so much in just months!

I remember when we found out about and met Dr. L. We were very thankful to find a doc who told us way more about DS than any other doc. We learned from him, instead of having to teach the doctors.

I remember when he started to crawl. It was his own way of crawling, but he was crawling! He got around very speedily!

I remember when he got his first two teeth at 15 months. They were two top molars. We thought he’d look funny, but about the same time his middle top teeth came in. Shortly thereafter his middle two bottom teeth and his bottom two molars came in. At 23 months, two more bottom teeth are coming in.

I remember when he learned to drink out of a straw at 13 months old. That honey bear straw cup from TalkTools worked so well! He learned in 2 DAYS! He was finally able to drink out of other things, besides a sippy cup. This was a great improvement for his oral motor therapy! He's on Straw #1 still at 23 months old, but he's improved so much. And, Lord willing won't be on Straw #1 too much longer.

I remember when he did his first sign, "please."

I remember when he did another sign, "eat" and another "owie." Now, he does just about any sign he's shown and he remembers them really well.

I remember how he signs "I love you" all the time. Even at times you're not expecting it. What a sweet-heart!

Now, 2 years later, he is doing so well. God has been so kind and merciful to him and us. Looking back through the past two years is amazing. Things have changed so much from when the twins were born. They are such a blessing and joy to have around. Even though he is slower than his sister and normally is 2-3 months behind her in his skills, he's still a blessing. And, God has created him the way he is! He understands a lot more than we realize, I think. May God continue to give him understanding! One of my favorite verses has got to be:

Psalm 100:3-5

"Know that the LORD, He is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; we are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. For the LORD is good; His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endures to all generations.""

http://gotdownsyndrome.blogspot.com/2012/10/5-years-ago.html

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31 for 21: Buckie Boys and Breeding Season!

It has been a LONG time since I posted last :) . . . but still just doin' a quick post here.

The goats have started to come into heat for past few weeks. We have gotten about 25 or so does bred so far. The sheep also have started to come into heat for the few week also. We have gotten about half bred so far . . .still waiting on the rest.

I thought I would attach some pictures of this years buckie boys that we are keeping.

Here are some pictures - 

The first three pictures below are of Powerhouse - 1 of our Nubian bucklings that we brought in this year. He is out Pruitville Nubians.

This is a picture of the 3 2012 dairy buck additions.

This is Patriot - a 4th generation Mini Nubian buckling that we brought in this year.

The next two pictures below are of a boer cross buckling that we kept back this year for a breeder.

The three pictures below are of Paul - 1 of the Nubian bucklings that we brought  in this year. He is out of Six M Galaxy Nubians.

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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