During my pregnancy with Mara, I found myself having to educate doctors about they way to deliver certain messages they believed I needed to hear to prepare to have a baby with Down syndrome. “You must know that 40% of babies with Down syndrome are born with a heart defect” was the first warning I was given about the apparently terrifying life that was awaiting for me. Right there and then, with my little baby still in my belly, I decided to change the conversation.
After announcing all 36 Honor Roll Unified Champion Schools earlier this month, ESPN and Special Olympics recently announced the Top 5 Unified Champion Schools for 2020. Delaware: Postlethwait Middle School Iowa: Theodore Roosevelt High School Minnesota: University of Minnesota Twin…
While looking for examples of how others used PVC pipes to create the Walk Assist Parallel Bars we created for Mara, we stumbled upon this idea for a Jungle Gym. We modified it a bit and this was the configuration we used.
After seeing parallel bars used for young children to assist them in walking, PVC seemed like a good option. There were no resources we found with plans for making them for Mara. But we used a few pictures we found and relied on the advice of our friend and therapist Kailee @themovementmama to determine the height of the bars to make this for Mara.
The following are the instructions for the crawling track that we made for our infant daughter. Her progress was immediate and striking. Mara started at three months. If we had to do it again she would have started the day she came home from the hospital. It is that valuable.
It had been just a few days since I heard the numbing words “your baby has Down syndrome” when I received a message from a close family member that said: “I am very proud of you for choosing to have your baby. You are really brave”. I was still processing my feelings. In no way was I in a good place as I read those words.
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