Okay so we all know I’m a huge breastfeeding advocate and massively loud and proud about exclusively breastfeeding both of my babies. As well I should be, it takes a lot of commitment and personal sacrifice to be the sole source of your babies nutrition for the first 6 months of their lives but it is also the best thing I’ve ever done and I’m so happy I am the only cow who fed my babies, ha! Even more so since going vegan đ
Dear Bella,
As I sit here watching you play, on the day your new sibling is due to arrive, my eyes fill with tears. The last couple of weeks I’ve felt such mixed emotions. Obviously huge excitement to welcome your little brother or sister, but also a deep sadness that our days as a twosome are coming to an end.
Last nightâs documentary âA World Without Downâs Syndrome?â started the long overdue ethical debate about prenatal screening by posing the question, âWhat type of society do we want to be and who do we want to live in it?â Continue reading
I’ve not blogged for a while, early pregnancy really took the wind out of my sails and the couple of hours between Bella’s bedtime and my own which I would normally use to work or write got swallowed up by my desire to lie down and try not to be sick!
Then the early sickness left me but a different kind of nausea took over. You see I’ve found it’s very different being pregnant when you already have a child with DS. Continue reading
Totally agree! Jokes that are racist aren’t acceptable so why are jokes about disabled people? They’re not. Well said Kerry Fender đđđ
So a bitter old cow at the Daily Fail wrote a scathing attack on celebrity mums for posting pictures of themselves feeding their children. She was so full of misinformation about breastfeeding, it was laughable. The bitter old cow, or BOC as I’ll lovingly refer to her from now on, did breastfeed her children but it was over 20 years ago. Come on now love, science and our knowledge has moved on a little since then but she seems not to have kept up! Continue reading
When World Down Syndrome Day happened last year Bella was not yet 1 month old, we were still getting to know each other, we were still in sleep deprived hell, my nipples had only just stopped feeling like they’d been through a meat mincer (my fault for not getting latch checked sooner – stupid!). Continue reading
Since my blog post about mine and Bella’s breastfeeding story a few people have asked whether I have any tips… I do! I have loved, and at 11 months ebf, continue to love breastfeeding so much that I wish all women could experience it. I literally can’t imagine not having had this part of motherhood and I feel so sad for the mother’s who desperately want to breastfeed but are unable to do so. The more help, information, and support that is available for new mum’s, then the better their chance of success – so this is my small attempt to help!
The Undateables divides opinion within the DS community, some love it, and some don’t like it, especially the name, which lets be honest, is understandable. No one wants to think of their child as undateable! Continue reading
Where do I start. Okay let’s be clear, anything that reduces the risk of miscarriage in pregnancy is welcome. On the face of it the introduction of the non invasive prenatal test is a good thing. In a previous blog I shared our experience of prenatal testing and we decided not to have an amniocentisis because of the tiny risk involved. We were offered the NIPT but only if we handed over ÂŁ600! If we had so much money that we wouldn’t miss it then we may have had the test. Not so that we could head straight for an abortion if the result was positive but so that we could read, educate ourselves, and talk to parents who have children with DS. If that is the aim of the test then it is marvellous, but lets be honest, with a termination rate currently at 90% for a DS diagnosis then I highly doubt that this is the intention. Especially when you consider some of the seriously negative language used in the media today by shoddy journalists, but more worryingly direct quotes from those within the medical profession. Words such as, suffer, disease, debilitating, severely disabled… these are words that I don’t recognise when I look at my beautiful baby Bella. Continue reading
Daily dose of bella 