Please help me look forward to meeting my baby

[RememberToPlaywiththeKids]

I'm due in a week and feeling really anxious about how I'll feel when I meet my baby. It's making me dread going in to labour and I must get my head sorted out!!

The reason is that baby probably has Down Syndrome and also has a heart defect and I have no idea how poorly he'll be or whether or not we will cope. I know it's just the unknown but I just want to look forward to meeting our baby and feel confident that we will all really enjoy each other rather than just cope.

I feel dreadful for feeling so anxious and that I've let our baby down already:(

oh yes I have and she's an amazing photographer too!!

Huge congrats on the birth of your son!

My DS3 has Downs and although all my DC were easy babies, he was the easiest by far, sleeping through from birth. I actually woke him the first two mights then asked myself what the heck I was doing. My DS also had a heart problem (ASD and VSD) which required surgery at 6 month sold, but he sailed through that. He will be 7 next month and is still equally gorgeous and such a little character!

Congratulations on your new arrival! I am so glad that your fears have disappeared and he is so YUMMY!!

Midori - I'm having to wake him up too - day and night though! They said every 3 hours as he had a bit of jaundice so once that's cleared, I'll push it for longer and see what happens!

Can I ask how long your DS was in hospital for altogether when he had the surgery?

Does your DS have any other health issues at all?

Yes, we also had to wake during the day. I had the express as he couldn't latch on and it used ot take him an hour to drink 2oz of milk and that was with constantly doing things to keep him awake like changing nappy, opening windows, undressing etc. He didn't have jaundice though, so it didn't matter so much about the night feeding.

My DS was in hospital (The Freeman in Newcastle) for 6 days when he had the surgery. He was only in Intensive Care for 5 days and it would have been 4, but they had no room for him back on the ward. I was told babies with Downs can be a bit lazy about coming of the ventilator and be on it for upt o ten days, but he was off it quickly, despite having had a collapsed lung. We were very lucky that he didn't get a chest infection, they told me it was almost inevitable. He sailed through it! He had morphine on a drip the first day after his op, then just calpol! Crazy! He was 6lb 14 1/2 oz at birth )37 weeks) and only 11lb at his srugery at 6 months! He did gain much more weight after the surgery, although he's always been a skinny minnie and tiny!

We are very lucky. My DS is very learning delayed and still doesn't have a huge amount of speech, but he is generally very healthy. He has bi-lateral mystagmus, where his eyes flicker from left to right, but it doesn't affect his sight and seems to be improving with age. He has still never had a chest infection and doesn't really get ill at all. He does have a disgusting runny nose almost all winter though!

I felt much more maternal after I had DS3. I don't know why, maybe as he needed me more? We had no idea he might have Downs until he was born and they didn't notice for 24 hours! I thought he looked a bit 'odd' and he was tiny, but it was only as I was chatting to a midwife and mentioned how big my other babies were that she had a closer look at him. After the initial shock I was just so in love with him I really didn't care. I still don't now, Downs is a part of who he is.

I hope this helps and you're finding things OK. I do think you have to look for the positives and knowing exactly when your baby will need feeding is one of those!

Sorry, I;ve gone on a bit...

He sounds brilliant! I'd be delighted if we get out of hospital as quickly!!

Is his hearing ok? I notice that DS's ear canals are very small and I've been told mine are too - just wondering if that's likely to have any impact for him.

How long was he very sleepy for??

My DH says my DS could 'hear a gnat fart at 100 metres' So yes, his hearing is exceptional actually!

I can't really remember how long he was sleepy for tbh. I know I weaned him quite early (around 15 weeks after discussing with paediatrician) and he did much better when on solids, I think as it was less effort to eat it than suck on a bottle. I know he was much better after his heart surgery though.

He still loves his sleep! He will happily go to bed at 6.30pm and he was up until 8pm tonight as we had a late dinner and he was shattered and grumpy by then! He wakes up early, but will play in his bedroom until we get up around 7. He also still has a nap in the day sometimes and will always sleep in the car, yet he always goes to bed like a little angel.

Oh, and his appetite has increased somewhat... he will easily eat cereal plus two slices of toast for breakfast, or 4 slices of toast! He has a dinner at school and will then eat two slices of toast when he gets home and then a proper dinner at night, and fruit in between! He's tiny though!

Congratulations, fantastic news!