DownSyn Forum

krista · Posted: September 27 2006, 4:27 PM Post subject: I've been lurking..

I have been lurking around for quite a while and reading lots of posts. I get such peace knowing that this type of support group is out there. I found this site after my son was born but hadn't been back until someone in our support group told me to check it out (bonniepd). Thanks Bonnie!
I am Krista mom to Owen who was born December 27,2005. We did not know until an hour after he was born that he had DS. It was a whirlwind of emotions at the time as I didn't really know what that meant or what to expect. My Husband was my rock and got us through. Thankfully Owen does not have any health issues. However we have had some trouble with his ears and constant congestion.
Owen has brought so much joy to our lives and I feel so blessed to have the opportunity to be his mom. He has taught us so much in just 9 months I can't imagine what the rest of our lives will be like. I will have to say thank goodness for all the resources that we have had up until this point. It truly amazes me.
We will be participating in our first buddy walk this Sunday and we really are looking forward to it. I have been overwhelmed at the amount of support we have received and the amount of money that people have donated in honor of Owen. It truly warms my heart.
I look forward to reading your posts and getting to know all of you more. It looks like there are quite a few families here from Minnesota so that is exciting as well. We are from Savage, MN.
Thanks for taking the time to read my intro! Here are some pictures of my little guy.

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momtofourgirls · Posted: September 27 2006, 4:36 PM Post subject:

Welcome, Welcome! Boy, Owen sure looks like mommy!! Very Happy

So glad you could find us. Can't wait to hear more about your family and journey. I know you will enjoy the information, support and laughs found here!!

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Kari
Mom to..
Kiersten 12 yrs.
Madison 10 yrs.
Hannah 7 1/2 yrs.
& Sadie(DS) 2 yrs. (6/17/04)

twyceborn · Posted: September 27 2006, 6:52 PM Post subject:

Welcome Krista and Owen!!! You are going to love it here. Everyone here is so encouraging. Glad you have joined. Owen is a real cutie.

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Kim and Justin (08/15/95)

kayzac · Posted: September 27 2006, 8:24 PM Post subject:

Welcome!!! You will love it here. Katie is my 4 year old who brought me here. I also have a son who will be 19. Can't wait to hear more about your family.

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Nancy
Mom to Zach 18 and Katie(Ds)4

EliasMom · Posted: September 27 2006, 8:50 PM Post subject:

welcome! he's a cutie!!

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Ali, wife to Felipe, mom to Elias (Feb 21 2005)

Cameron · Posted: September 27 2006, 8:58 PM Post subject:

Owen is just adorable and I love his name! Such a cutie - welcome and glad you have posted.

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Rae

Brooke 4/1/03 and Cameron (ds) 4/8/05

pookeymom · Posted: September 27 2006, 9:07 PM Post subject:

What a cutie pie you have there! Welcome to the board and hope to hear more about you and Owen soon, thanks for coming out of the "lurking" shadows.

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Stacy
Mom to Tristin (9), Camille (5), Elijah (3), Caleb and Isaac (1)

rileighsmom · Posted: September 27 2006, 9:44 PM Post subject:

WELCOME!!!

YOUR STORY SOUNDS ALOT LIKE MINE, WE DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT THE DS UNTIL HOURS AFTER HER BIRTH. WE HAD ALL THE TRIPLE SCREEN DONE AND THOUGHT THAT IT WAS OUT OF THE QUESTION. NEVER CROSSED OUR MINDS. ON TOP OF EVERYTHING I HAD A HORRIBLE LABOR AND RILEIGH HAD TO BE IN THE ICU ON O2. SHE WAS IN FOR 2 WEEKS, AND IT WAS VERY HARD TO 'BOND' WITH HER.

WE LOVE HER VERY MUCH AND HAVE ACCEPTED THE DS AND ARE TAKING IT ONE DAY AT A TIME. RILEIGH IS FAIRLY HEALTHY AND MUCH LIKE YOUR OWEN, SHE HAS FREQUENT CONGESTION, CHEST COLDS, AND EAR INFECTIONS.

OWEN IS A CUTIE PIE AND I LOOK FORWARD TO GETTING TO KNOW MORE ABOUT YOU GUYS.

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WIFE, FOR 10 YEARS, TO JEREMY. PROUD MOM OF EMILEE (8YRS) LOGAN (6YRS) AND RILEIGH JANE (2-18-06) DS. LOVES OF MY LIFE.

marlene · Posted: September 27 2006, 10:28 PM Post subject:

Wow! Is he ever a cutie! Welcome! Very Happy

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Marlene, mommy to my precious Aleena (1/30/04)

Annieo · Posted: September 27 2006, 10:57 PM Post subject:

Welcome!!! This site is great. We'll be at the buddy walk on Sunday. We're supposed to have a sign that says "Minnetonka Parent Group" so I'll be somewhere near the sign. We should try to have a downsyn meet-up at the buddy walk. I wonder how many of us will be there? Leah? Bonnie? Anyone else?

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Ann
Mom to Sally, Mark, Jane, John (12/02, DS), and Paul

kazpa · Posted: September 28 2006, 10:44 AM Post subject: Welcome

Your photos are great, this is a fantastic forum, lots of info and the most gorgeous kids....pretty great parents too..
Enjoy your buddy walk

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Karen, Paul and Kelsey(25.10.95)Declan(08.04.99)& Little Abbey(ds 01.04.2004)

Cindy Maroney · Posted: September 28 2006, 12:12 PM Post subject:

Welcome, you will love this site... I have laughed and I have cried and have learned a lot reading the posts everyday !!

_________________

Amanda 17, Kelli 10, Mason(DS) 2

Cindy Maroney

LovelyKennedy · Posted: September 28 2006, 12:59 PM Post subject:

Welcome! I love Owen. He is tooooooo adorable. And he shares a b-day with my husband. Hope to hear lots about your family!

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Beth Mom to Cameron 2/26/2000, Kendall 6/25/2002 and My Lovely Kennedy 9/10/2003(DS)

kellyrimmer · Posted: September 28 2006, 1:15 PM Post subject:

Welcome and Owen is just a cutie pie. You will love this site

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Kelly Rimmer
Mom to
Paige 11-12-92
Aaron 06-16-99
Alexis 08-19-05 (DS)
Baby #4 11-04-06

rhonda · Posted: September 28 2006, 1:32 PM Post subject:

Hello and welcome!! Looking forward to learning more about you and Owen!! He is a doll!!

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Rhonda

Taylor 13, Jordan 12, Dylan 3

Maysonsmama · Posted: September 28 2006, 2:06 PM Post subject:

hello and welcome!!! my little girl mayson is s few months younger than your owen. i hope he like younger women..hehe...
he is adorable!! cant wait to hear more about you and your family!

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Amy mama to:
Jayden-7/94
Rylee-10/97
Mayson-2/06 DS

iluvmacy · Posted: September 28 2006, 2:10 PM Post subject:

Hi there! I'm from MN too! But I'm up north in Hibbing. Welcome to downsyn, I hope you have fun at the Buddy Walk, we also had our first one last Sunday in Duluth. It was so nice. I really enjoyed it.
Owen is a cutie pie! Looking forward to getting to know you better!

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~Alyssa~ Mom to Macy-d.o.b.5/11/05

krista · Posted: September 28 2006, 2:40 PM Post subject:

Thank you everyone for such a warm welcoming. I look forward to getting to know all of you as well.
Here is some more detail about Owen....
My labor was a terrible experience as I was induced but never progressed so they whisked me away for a c-section. By then my epidural wore off some as the line came out so I felt most of the c-section. Owen came out as beautiful as ever but was taken to special care because he was having trouble breathing. I got to my room after recovery and they had just gotten me into bed but I was in excruciating pain. Then all these nurses came in and told everyone to leave. Needless to say the way they delivered the news was pretty harsh. I had a hard time at first but I am so much more relaxed about the diagnosis now than I ever was. I still have my hard days. Especially when I feel like I don't have anyone close to talk to about it. But Owen can light up a room and just one little grin from him and it makes all my worries go away. Our OT comes to our home about once every other week to do her eval and show us some new things to work on. He is close to sitting on his own but I think it will still be a while before he can do that. He loves to suck on his toes and loves mirrors. I have one of the long mirrors from target propped horizontally on the floor and he will look at himself and talk to himself until you interrupt him.
I have found that my husband and I are so much more attentive to every little thing he does than we would have ever been. Just last night Owen was lying on his tummy and started to try and kick/push on the floor with his legs (trying to lunge forward). We were so excited!
Anyway, sorry for the long post but thought I would give you more about our story and share some of the joys we are having!
Thanks for reading...

_________________
Krista
Wife to Jason
Mom to Owen (12-27-05)

JenBrock'sMom · Posted: September 28 2006, 3:15 PM Post subject:

Hi Krista, I'm Jen from Iowa mom to Brock who is 14 months and doing great. Owen is a sweetie - I love your photo of the two of you.

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JenBrock'sMom & wife to Jay
Brock 7/28/05

Laurieannie · Posted: September 29 2006, 9:21 AM Post subject:

Hi Krista, Welcome to Downsyn! Owen reminds me of Reuben when he was younger (and before I cut his hair Smile

)
Reuben is a healthy guy also, but like Owen suffered from recurring ear infections and congestion. It became so bad that as soon as he had a runny nose I took him to the doctor to check his ears. Sure enough, every time he had an infection. We finally got tubes put in a year ago. He had a few runny noses last winter but only one slight ear infection that cleared up with generic antibiotic in one round! Between January and August '05 he had 9 ear infections!
Anyway, glad to see you here and looking forward to hearing more about your family! Have fun at your Buddy Walk! ours was last Saturday and it was a blast!

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Laurie- wife to Wayne
mom to Kate-22, Micah-5 and Reuben(ds)4/21/04

If you treat an individual as he is, he will stay as he is; but if you treat him as if he were what he ought to be and could be, he will become what he ought to be and could be. ~Goethe

mom2alex · Posted: September 29 2006, 10:34 AM Post subject:

Welcome....your son is such a cutie..can't wait to hear more about him...

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Nicol - Mom to Alex (15)

lilpayton · Posted: September 29 2006, 2:12 PM Post subject:

Hi! Welcome to Downsyn! Your little man is a cutie! And...our babes are only a week or so apart! Payton was born on 1/7/06.

Anyway, I'm familiar with your neck of the woods..I went to college at Mankato...WOO HOO! LOL. I'm trying to figure out when we are going to get back to the cities to visit friends and family and I wanted to plan a Downsyn get together at Camp Snoopy or something...you'll have to join us!

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Bethany
Mommy to Mason (1/13/04) and Payton (DS) (1/7/06)

Website: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/paytonbalsis
Buddy walk page: http://join.buddywalk.org/site/TR?px=1159228&pg=personal&fr_id=1400

"Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we are here we might as well dance."

lcbrownfam · Posted: September 30 2006, 1:26 AM Post subject:

Welcome! Your little guy is gorgeous. He and my Justin are just about the same age. This site sure helped me in the early days and still does. I love to visit daily. Looking forward to getting to know you.

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Carol
Blessed Mom to Kaitlyn 6/92, Andrew 4/95, Aimee 2/98, Hannah 3/01, Stephen 2/03 and Justin(DS) 12/05

mommy2nicholas · Posted: September 30 2006, 6:32 PM Post subject:

Welcome aboard. I am new here too and I am so grateful that it's here. Owen is super cute!!!

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Gwen - DH of 8 yrs, John. Mommy to Nicholas 10/11/05 Love of my life!DX w/ DS, AV Canal and chronic renal failure at birth. G -tube & nissen (fundo) since 11/10/05. Blood issues and seizure disorder (DX w/ Infantile Spasms 7/7- SF since 7/27)

Teresa E · Posted: October 03 2006, 10:03 PM Post subject:

Hi Krista!
Welcome from the Twin Cities! My son Lucas is almost seven months old. I look forward to hearing more about your cute little guy!

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Teresa, mom to
Molly 4-17-01
Max 3-17-03
Lucas 3-8-06 DS