Lauren’s Story, by her mum, Sue
My pregnancy with Lauren was very uneventful. She was my 3rd child and by far the easiest to carry and give birth to! She was born at 39 weeks, and all went smoothly. However, when they put her on me, my first thought was she doesn’t look anything like her siblings did.
I won’t go on about those first few days – all of those who had a post natal diagnosis know how scary, sad and angry I felt. Lauren came out of the hospital 4 days later. We did return for 2x 1 week stays in the first few months, due to chest infections, but after that we never looked back.
It’s funny when you have a child who crawls around shop floors, licks a railing outside and likes to eat a good handful of sand, but has actually been a lot healthier than her older brother and sister! A couple of weeks after she was born, I was walking with a friend who has one child, but had suffered many failed IVF attempts. I was whittling on about my worries and she just said, “Sue you are so lucky, I would have 10 Lauren’s if I could just have another baby”.
It was then I thought, you’re right I am very lucky to have had three children. Fast forward seven years of fun, laughter and many stubborn drops to the floor and I know how blessed we are to have Lauren in our family! She attends mainstream Primary and her reading and writing is coming on, her teacher is so proud of her.
She has many friends, including her best friend Poppy, who is so calm and patient with her. She is fiercely independent, likes to choose her own clothes and dress herself, (this its down sides!). She is very stubborn and there is no bribing her with anything. If you tell her you’re leaving her at the park, she just says bye.
She has swimming lessons, does gymnastics twice a week, (her cartwheels are amazing), and has her Thursday night football. She is known everywhere we go, and seems to put a smile on everyone’s face without even trying! In 7 years, I can honestly say, I have never heard one negative comment said to me about Lauren’s diagnosis – not from health professionals, members of the public or friends and family!
Although sometimes I do think if one more person says they are so loving though, I may punch them! We have just come back from Spain. We were out one night and as we were leaving a lady said to me, “I have to say you have a gorgeous family especially your little girl”. I said thank you and thought, you’re right they are just perfect!
