My Hungarian Mother

My mother, who is Hungarian but lives in Australia now, came out to help and support me for six months when I had the twins and thank goodness for that! How I would have coped without her I do not know. It was fantastic to wake up at five in the morning and be able to take a wide awake baby and hand her over to Mum, who was already awake and on her second cup of coffee.

What a brilliant invention making you need less sleep as you get older so that you can look after your grandchildren more....Mother Nature you are so clever.

Just to recap, while we were still in the hospital not only did they announce that one of my twins had Down Syndrome but also that she had a hole in the heart and a heart murmur. Never rains but it pours, I know that there are a large majority of parents of babies, all babies, not just those with DS, who have been given this news. Only a day after birth... it really is too much information at a time when you are so emotional. Fortunately SJ (Sarah-Jane's) heart healed up by the time she was a few weeks old, about six to eight weeks so no permanent problem there. I do remember going to the Children's Hospital in Birmingham and seeing all these little mites with tubes coming out of everywhere thinking......I don't think I can do this.....but on reflection I would have had too.

We also had to return to the hospital where the twins were born as they wanted to carry out further blood tests, they had asked if I would allow the twins to be used for research in why one of them had DS and the other didn't. Doh! they were non-identical, even I know that. Anyhow with my sheer dread of the needle the answer was no. The midwife who delivered the twins was passing and she popped her head round the door and asked me how I was getting on with my "Mongol daughter". Now this may shock some of you, it did make me take a sharp intake of breath, but I just smiled and said everything was fine. I know that it was 1991 but for goodness sake. How totally ignorant. Mind you if I knew then what I know now after eighteen years of it, what she said was fairly intelligent in the light of things.

Have to go again....England have finished playing footy and SJ will be back soon after the watching the game....I refuse to have it on in the house...