Honest Feelings: Dreams Change

It takes a village to raise a child they say. . . and I believe it does.  The Down syndrome community is just that, a community, a village.  We rally together in times of illness and when a little one undergoes that oh-so-scary open heart surgery.  We all cheer with glee when one our children masters a new task.

We tend to focus on the good and the positives which can be, well, good and beneficial.  After all, we want people to see that our children are children first and foremost.  We want people to see that Down syndrome is not bad.  However, there are also those feelings that many of us felt so profoundly upon receiving our child's diagnosis of Down syndrome--prenatally or postnatally.  Many of us tend to push those old feelings into the back of our minds.  Ashamed we ever felt the way we did.  The thing is, those feelings ARE normal and they ARE okay.  They are all a apart of the grieving process--denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance.  In fact, it may even be BENEFICIAL for a new parent with that new diagnosis to see that others have felt those dreaded feelings too and that now, we are in a happier, more accepting place.

Parents search out information from various sorts of media-books, medical journals, doctors, friends.  Now, I am seeing a growing population of blog readers.  It is so important for us to be honest and open on our blogs.  I know that not everyone is comfortable with that and that is okay.  I know it is scary to lay yourself out there like that.  There is a blog that I enjoy reading and not just for the adorable pictures of sweet little Addison either.  I love this author's honesty, but also her sense of humor.  I am talking about Deanna from Everything and Nothing in Essex.  Deanna took the plunge and wrote a very short, yet very powerful ebook called Dreams Change.  I must admit, that I am only halfway through the book and that our situations of learning about Ds were a little different, yet I am just sucked into her book.  I am crying with her and rejoicing with her.  I felt her fear for her fear was the same as my own two years ago.

The book is available as an ebook only on Amazon.com  and it is on $1.99 (free for Prime members).  She does not know I am promoting her book and I get nothing from this promotion.  I just feel it is important to spread the word as I believe that this book would be great for new parents who recently received a diagnosis of Ds  :)  Anyway, check out her book or at least check out her blog.

What sort of books/resources have you found helpful?