Noah's Montage of his Second Year

I have finally got round to finishing of Noah's montage for his second year. Take a look.

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Noah in the Birmingham Mail

I haven't posted for a while, I am just catching up on things I should have done a while ago.

As you will see from the heading Noah was in the Birmingham Mail today, I have cheekily scanned it in for all of those who were unable to buy the Birmingham Mail today. He looks fab in the pictures and the write up is fantastic. I hope this brings more awareness to the fact that children with Special Needs can overcome milestones and do well and mix within society.

Take a look at the Birmingham Mail Click Here :- Page 1
Page 2
Page 3



Noah has got on fantastically at nursery last week and this week, he has settled in so well. Yesterday for the first time when Pete put him onto the bus he didn't cry. I am amazed at the change in him, he is an outgoing little boy anyway but he has suddenly become so independent. But I am glad to say he still needs a hug from his mum at the end of the day.

It was his Christmas Party today at nursery as he has now broken up for Christmas. He loved it, he didn't mind Santa giving him his present but he definitely didn't like been sat on his lap.

The Little Monkey

Birmingham Mail

Today the Women's Editor came out from The Birmingham Mail and took some more information for the article which will hopefully be in the Birmingham Mail on 18th December.

Noah went back to nursery today and really enjoyed it, he had a cry when I put him on the bus but was fine once he got to nursery. I think he definitely keeps them all going, because he most certainly keeps me on my toes.

We are just trying to decide where to put the Christmas Tree, somewhere safe that Noah cannot get to it or pull it on top of him. Unfortunately we are running out of ideas. So I think it will be a case of just not leaving him in the room on his own oh and trying to deter him from climbing the tree or eating the decorations.

Where does the time go?

I just haven't had the time to post lately. Noah has been poorly and needing my attention and when he doesn't I am trying to keep on top of my homework I get from the courses I am attending and obvioulsy preparing for christmas.

We did take some time out though to go to The West Midlands Safari park to see Santa. Noah really wasn't taken to him. He started to pull a scared face and wouldn't let go of his dad.
I think me and Pete were more excited about seeing the animals on Safari all Noah wanted to do was unlock the doors and let the animals in the car.





They had a snow machine at the park and it was great Noah had such fun playing with the suds that were coming out as it was raining they were turning into mush.

Noah's not well

Noah's not been well over the last few days, he has come down with a Chest Infection and Conjunctivitis. Poor little man he is on antibiotics but coping well. We are off to West Midlands Safari Park tomorrow if Noah is feeling better.

I had a call today from the lady who interviewed us, apparently the Evening Mail want to interview us and take up the article so I will let you know more soon.

Hopefully Noah will be back at nursery on Thursday, but he will only have a few more weeks until he finishes for Christmas.

Nursery, Signing and Christmas Market

Noah is doing unbelieving well at nursery, today Pete put him on the bus, he had a bit of a cry and was apparently fine when he got to nursery. I went to collect him and he was playing away posting shapes through holes. I waved at him and he was excited to see me but took his time in coming over to me. I am really happy that he likes nursery. The only problem I have now found is that he has become very clingy outside of nursery. He has started to cry when I go out of site. Its speech and signing is coming along really well. He has started to say a lot more over the last few weeks and he is picking up signs really well. I am now trying to encourage him to either sign or say two words together, last week he signed baby sleep which was excellent. Hopefully nursery will now help with this as he will get one-on-one care. Even though I talk most of the time to him, there is only so much baby chatter I can face.

Noah has got one of my little traits, Pete keeps telling me that I always point out the obvious for example if I see a Christmas Tree, I will point it out. Noah now points at things and names them, for example door, light, shower, dog.

This evening we went to the German Market which is in Birmingham for Christmas. Noah loved the Christmas lights, the carousel ride and the food was really yummy. Whilst going round the stores we bumped into a black Labrador puppy, it was lovely (even though I am not really a dog lover) Noah took to it straight away. And you'd never guess what the puppies name was Noah of course. What a coincidence.

Quick update on nursery

Noah got on really well at Nursery today, he cried when Pete put him on the bus, but apparently fell asleep a couple of minuted later. The nursery staff were able to take his attention to the toys which he loves. Apparently he went in the ball pond and down the slide several times. He cried at dinner time, but I think that was because he was getting tired. So all in all he had a really good day at nursery.

Update on Nursery

Well last week was a very stressful week, Noah just didn't take to nursery. He cried constantly unless I was there. So this week I am trying a different tactic. I stayed with Noah today, when I did go out of sight he started to cry but the guys there took his attention to something else. This lasted for about 10 minutes until he got really upset. I am sure once he gets used to the new surroundings and the people who help out he will settle down just fine.

We have also had a busy weekend, on Saturday we looked after my cousins daughter (6 months old), Noah was really gentle with her and started to sign Baby sleeping. He can sign them separately but has not put the two together until Saturday.

I gave Noah a chocolate on Saturday and I'll leave you with the mucky pup himself.

Hatton Country Park

On Saturday we took Noah to Hatton Country Park, despite it being very cold Noah had a great time, we got to see all the animals, including the guinea pigs which Noah took a real liking to. I can imagine in a few years time on the car journey home finding a guinea pig hidden in his jacket ;-) He liked them that much.

We went for lunch afterwards, where he was given a balloon. He had such fun with the balloon. Take a look at the video clip.

Noah didn't get on well yesterday at Nursery, I took him to Speech and Language before nursery and then dropped him in afterwards. He roared and roared. I went into another room to wait for him to stop crying as I would not leave while he was in such a state, after a long time he still wasn't settling so I went in to get him. I hate seeing him so upset, but obviously nursery will benefit him. He is still very young to be going to nursery and to be honest if he didn't have Down Syndrome I wouldn't be sending him. But he needs to start playing with other children and mixing with new adults to prepare him for pre-school. He has become very clingy and I am a great believer that things that happen in your childhood affect you in later life. Therefore I will not put Noah through anything that may traumatise him. He is going to be collected on the bus tomorrow and Pete will be putting him on so we will see how he gets on. Fingers crossed he will settle in just fine.

First day at Nursery

Well it finally came, Noah's first day at nursery. He wasn't too well this morning, I think it must have been all the excitement from his birthday, but he still had a smile for me. The little bus turned up for him at 9.50am and he was put on the bus. I think he was in shock as he didn't do much when I said goodbye. Apparently he fell asleep on the bus, but woke when he was taken from the bus. I went to the nursery just to check up on him and he was really pleased to see me kept hugging me and coming over to me, which was really cute. I stayed for about 45 min, when I left I said goodbye to him and he waved. I contacted nursery at 12.30 to find out how he was and apparently he had cried but had fallen asleep. His nursery teacher was going to wake him up and give him some lunch. The bus dropped him back just after 2.00pm and he was really pleased to see me, he had a few sobs every now and again. I talked to him about his day and I said to him did you get on the bus and he said bus.
He is really starting to copy words that I say now as well as saying and signing his usual words. At the moment Noah has about 50 signs and words.

How did I get on without Noah? Well it was horrible I hated every moment, I felt lost, I know its the best thing for Noah he gets to meet other people and socialise with other children, it just starts to prepare him for nursery and then school. But I was at a loss of what to do without him. I’m sure it will get easier especially if I know he is enjoying it, at least tomorrow I have more time with him as I am taking him to Speech and Language before I take him to nursery.

Happy 2nd Birthday

Happy 2nd Birthday to the big birthday boy. I cant believe how the 2 years have flown by. You have grown and changed so much in those two years. But you will always be my baby.

The Special Child

2007 European Year of Equal Opportunities continued...

The photo shoot went very well and thanks to John Hopkiss Ltd we have copies of the photo’s. So a big thank you John. An article will hopefully be in one of the local Birmingham papers. So I am keeping my fingers crossed that they will run the article as I want to raise awareness of some of the therapy centres parents that have children with special needs can access and the need for more charities like Bibic. I will let you know when I hear more. Here is one of the pics of Noah.

2007 European Year of Equal Opportunities

As it is the European Year of Equal Opportunities, we have been contacted through Bibic by a reported and asked whether they could photograph Noah and they will then see whether the local newspapers would be interested in running an article about Noah. They are coming to take the photographs today. So I will keep you posted as to how he gets on.

Noah the Pussy Cat

Noah hasn't been well this week, he has a really bad cold and is on antibiotics, but he is keeping his chin up. Last weekend Noah became a pussy cat for the day. Here are some piccys of him.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Breastfeeding a baby that has Down Syndrome (Ladies only)

This is a follow post from Noah's birth and Diagnosed with Downs Syndrome.

When Noah was born he had to take antibiotics to help prevent infection due to his dilated kidneys, they had warned us about this before hand. They scanned his kidneys after a couple of days and confirmed they were fine. We continued to give them to him until two weeks after his birth when he had his second scan to confirm they were still fine.

Noah also had a heart scan a couple of days after he was born which showed a VSD and a heart murmur. They told us that it was nothing to worry about, it was something that all children have but they normally close before they are born. It was followed up in February 2006 and they told us he actually had an ASD. Again this was followed up in January 2007 and they confirmed that the heart murmur had gone and the ASD/VSD had closed.

Before Noah was born I was adamant I would breastfeed our baby, giving him/her the best possible start into the world. Once Noah was born I asked Pete to find anything he could about breastfeeding a baby with down syndrome as I new I would have a difficult time.

I found it extremely difficult to get Noah to latch on, I was worried, he was loosing weight and he was just so sleepy most of the time. To get him to wake up I would have to undress him and blow on his tummy, stroke his face and make a lot of noise. On the third day of being in hospital, I was just so worried about him, his weight loss and the fact that he still wasn’t latching on properly I broke down in tears. They say the 3rd day is always the worst day when you have your baby blues. I didn’t feel I was getting the support I needed from the midwives, until a lovely midwife came to see me and told me they would get the breastfeeding counsellor to see me.

I talked about Noah and his lack of breastfeeding, the midwives were worried about his weight so we decided I would express and give it to him in a cup, every three hours. Can you imagine what that was like especially during the night. I would spend at least 30 minutes trying to wake him up, then it would take about an hour to feed him and then I would have to express again. I hardly got any sleep whilst at the hospital. I was using the hospital expressing machine. It was hard work but I new that I was doing the best for my little man.
Did I feel like giving up? Yes especially during the night feeds and also with the negativity and lack of support I was getting from some of the midwives.

I was discharged from the hospital on the Tuesday I just wanted to go home. Noah was feeding a little bit better and was still taking little bits from the cup.

But by the following Sunday he had lost more weight, he still looked jaundice and had not opened his bowels since the Monday before (a week). The midwife was worried that he may have bowel problems and obviously she wanted to get the jaundice checked out. We ended up back at the hospital. They kept us in hospital to keep an eye on Noah.

It was decided that as Noah’s sodium level was higher than normal, I would put him to the breast for 5 minutes on each breast and top him up with 60ml (by cup). His first feed was fine, the second he didn’t wake up but took it all anyway. The third 6.00am he woke for and took straight away.

On the Tuesday he had done two poo’s and had gained weight as well we were allowed to go home.

After that it wasn’t plane sailing Noah didn’t take to breastfeeding straight away but by Christmas I wasn’t expressing he was solely taking milk from the breast. He was also sleeping through the night from 6 weeks.

With patience and persistence we had done it. It definitely got easier as his strength and muscle tone picked up and to be honest we haven’t looked back since. I’m so glad I was able to breastfeed Noah. It was the best thing I ever did and I believe it has helped with Noah’s speech, he babbles for England.

I understand it may not be possible to breastfeed your baby due to the baby having health problems, low muscle tone etc. But you could always express milk if you feel up to it and give it in a cup.

Here are some added benefits to breastfeeding your baby: -

 Protection from infection and bowel problems. Babies with Down Syndrome are especially prone to respiratory tract infections and problems of the bowel. Your milk will provide your baby with immunities to infection and ease of digestion that formula cannot.

 Improved mouth and tongue coordination. Due to the unique sucking action required to breastfeed, these babies experience mouth and tongue coordination improvement, which promotes their speech and language development later on.

 Increased brain growth. Human milk has a fatty acid known as DHA that is not present in cow's milk. This fatty acid has been shown to increase brain growth and development. Several studies have shown that children who were breastfed generally score 8 points higher on IQ tests than their formula-fed peers. This increased brain stimulation is especially beneficial for the child with this disability.

 Extra stimulation. The extra skin-to-skin contact that goes hand-in-hand with breastfeeding gives babies extra stimulation to more fully develop their capabilities.

 Closeness between mother and baby. Nursing your baby with a special need assures that you spend lots of time cuddling and getting to know your baby better. It also can help you feel that you are doing something meaningful for your child's well-being.

 Enhanced mothering skills. The skills you will use in the early weeks of breastfeeding to help your baby learn to nurse - the encouraging, the coaxing, and the teaching are the same skills you will need over the years to help your child reach his potential.

Below are some more links about breastfeeding a baby with Down syndrome:-

Australian Breastfeeding Association

Answers & Questions with Anne Smith

Noahs Birth Story (ladies only)

On the morning of Friday 18th November 2005 I woke up early, I was getting niggly pains, I decided to have a bath to see if they would subside. I didn’t think that it was anything serious, I wasn’t due for another 3 weeks, and so I told Pete to go to work.

I rang mum just to let her know that I was getting some niggly pains but obviously I wasn’t due for another 3 weeks so it was probably nothing, in any case I told her to keep her mobile with her.

By 9.00 am I was in more pain and decided to contact the hospital to ask for there advice. The pains were coming
every 10 minutes, the midwife said I was most probably in labour and to come in when I felt ready. I put my tens machine on and called Pete telling him to come home when he could, I phoned mum and asked her to come over. We had already told mum we wanted her there at the birth. By 11.00 am the pain’s were coming every 5 minutes. As Pete doesn’t drive he cycles everywhere, and I can remember calling him and asking him where was he panicking as I couldn’t take the pain any longer, I told him if he wasn’t home in 5 minutes I would be going to the hospital on my own. (I was in pain) By the time he got back he looked terrible. He jumped in and out of the shower in a matter of minutes.

When I arrived the waiting room was full. After about 10 minutes I told them I couldn’t wait any longer I was in a lot of pain. So they bumped me up the list and took me into an examination room. I was over 5 cm dilated.

They then took me to the delivery suite. I managed the pain well on gas and air and my tens machine. They had to monitor Noah’s heartbeat all the whole time so I hooked up to a monitor. I was restricted in my movement but I refused to lie on the bed until the very end. (I think this really helped being upright).

They told me I was 9 cms dilated and they said they would have to break my waters. They had to cut and I tore which wasn’t nice but as soon as this happened Noah Michael Edwards entered the world at 4.50pm weighing 7lbs 4 oz. I dread to think how much he would have weighed if I had gone full term.

His daddy and nanny were also waiting to meet him.

I remember him being handed to me as soon as he was born. All the pain I had been in, just disappeared and I felt so much love for this little person and so scared I was finally a Mummy.

We spent some time with Noah before I had to go off to theatre to be stitched up. I could hear Noah crying in the recovery room, I also heard that Aunty Joanne had just arrived. (Mum had only just text her, she must have been stalking the hospital)

When I got out of theatre Pete and I spent some time with Noah. I new he was an extra special little person from the minute I saw him and that didn’t really matter. All that mattered to both of us was that he was healthy and doing really well. Pete and I had made a decision before Noah was born that we would accept and deal with whatever was thrown at us.

Noah is extra special because he has an extra chromosome - he has Down syndrome.

Pete and I felt really positive about this news, it wasn’t a shock it
was probably more of a shock to our family than us, although we had pre-warned everyone before hand. We believe special families are chosen to have special babies.

We still feel so lucky to have Noah, I remember we used to lie on the bed at the hospital looking at Noah saying how on earth did we make such a gorgeous little bundle. I would say to anyone in the position we were in Noah has brought us so much joy and given us so much love in the last two years. He amazes us everyday, he does something new every week. All of the moments with him are very precious. Some days he is a little monkey but aren’t all children!
He will always be my baby.

Bonfire Night and Fireworks

Well Noah has been to his first Bonfire night and Fireworks display. He was a bit unsure at first, I think that the bangs may have been a bit louder than he is normally used to but by the end of it - he was saying wowwwwwww, wowwwwwwwww, he was copying me.

Noah will be two next week, its really scary to think where have the last two years gone to. It has got me thinking back to when I was pregnant with him and the day he was born. I have recently posted about my pregnancy with Noah, for anyone reading, it can be found in the October posts.

I will shortly be posting Noah's birth story for anyone who didn't read it on his website which we have closed.

Halloween

I haven’t managed to post for a while, Noah has been keeping us busy. As it is Halloween Pete came with a Pumpkin Outfit for him to wear. He’s a bit young to go out trick or treating but we got him dressed up anyway. He looked so cute. See for yourself, although now he is walking he just wont stay still.

Noah Walking

Noah has been walking for the past four - five months now, well I say walking it has been on and off. He would walk then fall, but he was so used to crawling (he was a speed crawler) he tended to do this most times instead of walking. In August he was finally measured for Pedro boots, which were fitted at the beginning of September. They are fab and I would definitely recommend. They have helped to support his ankles, as his ankles were turning in whilst he walked. When he started wearing the Pedro boots there was a noticeable difference straight away. Now with the encouragement of a football he is getting up on his own (which he didn't do before) and practically running. It’s so enjoyable to watch him walk as he has crawled for over a year now and its such a great achievement for him. We are both very proud of him.

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Noah and Washing

Noah has a fascination about washing. Firstly he loves pressing the buttons on the washing machine, often turning off my wash when it is running, he loves watching the washing going round & round and could spend ages just kneeling in front of the washing machine.

Once the washing has been washed and I put it onto the clotheshorse or the radiators he goes around pulling it off. Eeeekkkkk.

Then once it’s dry he likes to pull it out of the basket and play with it. Putting it back onto the clotheshorse. Oh well at least he is trying to help just getting it the wrong way round. He also likes to get into the basket and put his toys in it.



And I wonder why our house is always a mess ?!?!?

Noah's First Year

I cant believe Noah will be two next month, the time has just flown by. I have started to go through our photos of his second year, putting them into a montage. He has grown up so much this year, bless him. Here is last years :-

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Noah's First Bike Ride

Noah went on his first official bike ride on Saturday. Well I say official he has been on a bike before - last summer in a trailer we hired at Kingsbury Water Parks. But he has now upgraded to having his own seat on Pete’s bike. I also got him a helmet, which he looks really cute in. I spent most of last Friday going round shops trying to find one that actually fit his head as it is so small and is not the same depth as other children his age. We took him out just around the neighbourhood, he loved it, he was laughing with delight. The novelty soon wore off though because about 20 minutes into the ride he fell asleep thus cutting out trip short. We are hoping he will last longer the next time.

I have just looked back at the photos of Noah in the trailer last year and he fell asleep in that aswell. Oh to be a child again and fall asleep in seconds. !!

Our First Post

I haven’t a clue what to write at the moment but I am sure I will have loads to say once I get going.

I have been thinking about writing a blog for ages and have recently been inspired by a friend who has a fantastic blog.

Today Noah had an appointment at home with his portage teacher (Jo) and speech & language teacher for them to review his IEP. The little monkey would not perform for them. When he is playing he normally doesn’t shut up babbling but could I get him to say anything, NO! Would he match the pictures, NO would he give the teddy a drink NO! Kids hey, they never do things when you want them to do it. Of course he does do all of these things but obviously chose that moment not to do them.

I can’t believe that he is going to be two next month. The time has flown by. He will be starting nursery the day after his birthday I’m not sure I can leave my little man with strangers for such a long time. But I am sure it will help him to develop more. He is doing so well as it is. He has over 25 signs and words, he walks, he climbs, he plays like any other toddler. The thing that makes Noah extra special is that he has down syndrome.

Diagnosed with Down syndrome

When I found out I was pregnant on the 30th March 2005 I was scared, we had already lost one baby “Angel” when I was 21 weeks pregnant, due to something called Triploidy (a whole extra set of chromosomes) I didn’t want to loose another. Triploidy, is a rare chromosomal abnormality, they had confirmed it was not genetic we were just unlucky.

Pete and I decided that if there was anything wrong such as another triploidy pregnancy we would want to know, plus we wanted peace of mind also to know that everything was all right.

I had already had about 3 early pregnancy scans before it came to the routine 12-week scan. I told the sonographer that I was going for a nuchal fold scan the following week and she had said everything looked fine. This put our minds at rest, thoughts of why shouldn’t everything be alright, were weren’t that unlucky were we!

My bloods had come back and they looked excellent, the consultant just said it was a case of checking that everything was in the right place and taking a measurement of the babies neck (Munchkin, we had already given him/her a nickname). The first thing the consultant noticed was that Munchkin hadn’t got a nasal bone. Apparently 10% of the population do not have nasal bones. Although not having a nasal bone was a indicator of down syndrome. He then measured the babies neck and it was 3.6 (the norm is 2.8). Everything else looked fine. He took us into a room and all we could think was why is it happening again, not to us, maybe he’s got it wrong.

The consultant came in and explained that we had a 1/61 chance of having a baby with down syndrome. We were devastated, at that moment I just wanted to curl up and go to sleep forever. Why was this happening again? Had we not been through enough?

After crying for what seemed an eternity, we looked at it logically this little baby was still alive and kicking inside me there were plenty of couples out there that couldn’t have children, we had been given a gift from God and should accept the baby with open arms. And there was always that chance that we could be 1 of the 60 other people that would have a child that didn’t have down syndrome.

We toyed with the idea of having the amnio but again we didn’t want to loose this baby and with an amnio there is always a chance of miscarriage. If we did know, what difference would it make we still wanted our little munchie.

We grew very close to munchie and her/his kicks, punches and hiccups.
We had scans every 4 weeks to keep an eye on munchies growth and she/he was doing just fine.

They took detailed scans, they checked the heart which appeared to be fine. Munchies kidneys however were dilated. We were told again this was another indicator of down syndrome. They kept a close eye on munchies kidney the measurements grew slightly but nothing to be extremely worried about.

We had made the decision to tell everyone about the risk, I think looking back it helped to prepare people. Well it helped us to come to terms with what might be. There was always that thought that maybe munchie wouldn’t have down syndrome but deep down I think I new.

I worried throughout most of the pregnancy, not because of the risk but I was constantly afraid that something new would appear on one of the scans. I bought myself a Doppler to keep an eye on munchies heartbeat, I loved to listen, it was so soothing. Although I tried not to listen too often as it could have become an obsession.

Although I worried a lot through the pregnancy, I also enjoyed carrying a little baby inside of me, feeling the kicks and punches. I loved the way people who I didn’t know would come up to you and ask how long you have left. I loved the way I was made to feel very special, I loved the excitement and joy that family members and me had in preparing for the arrival of munchie.
Most of all I loved the fact that I was soon to become a mum.