Written by David’s mum, Sarah.
For the birth of my third child I decided very early in the pregnancy that I didn’t want to give birth in a hospital again. I hadn’t been very satisfied about how I was treated during the births of my daughters so I looked for different possibilities. I found a birthing centre near our hometown and to be honest, it was the greatest thing that could have happened to us.
When David was born, the midwife who luckily was very experienced quickly realised that there were signs that he had DS, but she let us cuddle and gaze at our sweet baby boy for a while like all parents do (of course she secretly checked his health all the time) before telling us about her presumption.
And you know what my first thought was? I looked at this sweet bundle of mine and immediately thought: ‘There is the same baby as 5 minutes ago before the “diagnosis”!’ Nothing could have changed how I saw him and nothing has changed ever since.
He’s our hero for he survived open-heart surgery at 3.5 months old and is developing amazingly.
David is now 2 ½ years old and showing us every day that he is much more alike than different and the love for our daughters is just the same as our love for him.
He is curious, funny, stubborn, generous with cuddles, loves to dance and listen to music. He likes animals of all kinds and always shares his toys with the kids in his playgroup. Up to today he uses about 40 signs to communicate with us. Since he began to walk he’s the greatest mischief-maker of all time.
He loves his big sisters who spoil him J There’s nothing greater to him than spending time outdoors with his grandparents and reading books with his great-grandmother.
Sounds like a “normal” little boy, doesn’t it? We wouldn’t change a thing about him.
There is a quote from Albert Einstein that I really like and I think it is really suitable for people with DS: “ The meaning of life is not to be a successful person but a valuable one.”
And here is the picture of David I like with this quote because he looks like the famous picture of Einstein.