For all momma's, momma's to be or anyone TTC

       Yesterday was my last psychology final ever (YAY!).  The class was called "psychology of the exceptional child," and was about disorders in children (down syndrome, turners, ADHD, autism ect...).  My professor knew I was expecting and gave me this story at the end of class yesterday.  I think it is so important for all of us on this board.

                                                    Kids Like These

When you are going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip to Italy, to the Sistine Chapel, and Colosseum, and you have a few guide books, you learn a little Italian, you pack your bags and several hours later you land and the flight attendant comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."  "Holland?  I signed up for Italy."  All my life I have dreamed of Italy.  But they haven't taken you to a terrible ugly place, just a different place.  It's slower paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy, but after you have been there for a while and you catch your breath, you begin to discover that Holland has windmills, Holland has tulips, Holland even has Rembrants.  But everyone you know is busy coming back and forth from Italy and they are all bragging about what a great time they had there; and for the rest of your like you will say, "Yes, that was where I was supposed to go, that's what I had planned" and the pain of that will never, ever, ever go away.  But if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you will never be free to enjoy the very special, very lovely things about Holland, that unexpected, that oh so different place.

Of course I am not saying we are all going to be disappointed with our children, or something will be wrong with them.  But we all have expectations for out children, and sometimes life does not go as planned.  I thought it was so thoughtful of him to give this to me.

Thanks for sharing... puts a lot in prespective. I have a second cousin who has autism and we love him for the child he is. It is so true that sometimes life does not go as planned and we should all feel blessed no matter what it might bring you.

Thanks again for sharing... sounds like a great professor.

There is a book, that starts out with thid story. It is about a little boy who has Autism. I gave the book to my mom because my little brother has a brain injury. I wish I could remember the name. It is a wonderful book.

Thanks for this. I truely feel this way. I work with people with disabilities and when I was pregnant I didn't want any tests done. I didn't care. Disabled people can have such a great life it the world shapes itself around them.

Honestly, I know it wouldn't have upset me one bit if they told me that Tristan would've have downs or something.

:) 

thanks for sharing. i shared it with a friend who is dealing with her sons recent down syndrome diagnosis, she was touched.