This is my only son and firstborn child, Christopher.
When the midwife handed him to me, I thought, “He is so heavy.” He weighed 8 pounds and some change, but seemed so much bigger.
“Are you sure?” I asked and they were until the next day when they weighed him again and he was over nine. Since newborns usually lose weight the first day they knew something was off. That was when they discovered that the scale in the delivery room was broken and estimated he had been closer to nine and a half pounds.
This was in 1995, one year before hearing tests for newborns was mandatory. So we took this beautiful boy home with an estimated birth weight and no idea that he was profoundly deaf…and so much more.
I have a post on Jana Riess’ blog, Flunking Sainthood about how to love and support the parents of kids with special needs and I hope you’ll check it out.
If you’ve come from there, welcome. You might enjoy this little snippet of a post about his birthday but NOT( God help me!) his birth.
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Alison,
Thank you so much for your article. I am the mother of a child who suffered a brain injury at birth and has severe cerebral palsy and a host of other medical issues as a result. Thank you for articulating so perfectly the complex emotions that I deal with daily. I’ve shared the article on Facebook hoping that everyone I know will have a little insight into our world.
Thanks again,
Andrea Rediske
Andrea, thank you so much. It is complex and so very emotional. And you’re right, there is something about just knowing what an IEP is that brings solidarity, even if the reasons for the plan are so diverse. Thanks for sharing the article and for taking the time to comment.
have you read the Jana reese book? it looks very good!
I have and it’s great.
Here’s my review: http://olderthanjesus.blogspot.com/2011/11/flunking-sainthood-review.html