It woke me up sometime around four this morning, less than an hour after being up to nurse: a dull sense of something not feeling right. I’ve had a sinus infection for two days, one I’ve been trying to self-treat with Sudafed because in the last 2 1/2 weeks, we’ve already spent $90 in doctor…
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Jonah, Marines, and prenatal diagnosis
Jonah had a really bad attitude. God gave him a job he didn’t want to do– the people of Nineveh weren’t worth his trouble–so he took off in the opposite direction, only to find himself stuck in the belly of a fish. When he proved indigestible (how lucky for him he was spit out near…
Read MoreShoe Shopping For Kids With Special Needs (or: You’ll Never Complain About Going To the Mall For Shoes Again
We’ve been having insurance problems lately. (Lately? When have we not had insurance hassles?) Fortunately, we’re not having health problems…just insurance problems. Most recently, the clinic that measured Julianna for her new shoe inserts–in August–called to ask me to get a detailed justification from my doctor, because the insurance was balking at paying; these inserts…
Read More7 Quick Takes, vol. 139
___1___ Last Friday, we took Julianna to the ophthamologist to have her post-lazy-eye surgery checkup. We hadn’t had her glasses on her in 10 days, and in the squabble of getting three little kids dressed, toys and books packed, and out the door, I forgot to bring them. But apologizing for being a loser mom opened the…
Read MoreWhat it’s like to receive a diagnosis of Down syndrome
___1___ Wrapping up “Julianna week” here at So Much to Say, So Little Time. This week, I participated in a research study. The researchers are asking people about their experiences at and around the time they received a diagnosis of a “congenital condition,” such as Down syndrome. I decided to share some of my answers…
Read MoreAn Infertility Story, Part 3
If you’re just joining us, click here for part 1 and part 2 of the series. By June of 2003, we’re well into a familiar pattern: I get emotional, Christian gets frustrated. He feels that I won’t allow him to get excited when we see signs that might mean pregnancy, but I counter that I…
Read MoreResponding to the un-answerable comment
On Monday morning after Christmas, I found this comment, on an earlier blog post, from “Greg” in my email inbox (all mistakes his): Will human stupidity know no bounds? YOU chose to have a disabled baby. YOU chose to not have an abortion YOU decided to raise it. Now you expect insurance to pay for your…
Read MoreMe and massage
It was the fall of my sophomore year of college, and I had been pushing hard to prepare for a competition. Every day I spent 3 ½ to 4 hours in a practice room, plus 2-3 hours in orchestra and wind ensembles. (Good heavens, did I really ever play that much? It’s another life!) And…
Read More7 Quick Takes, vol. 91
1. I got a speeding ticket last night. (Yes, Kelley, on the way home from your house.) It was actually really unfair–not b/c I wasn’t speeding (I’m sure I was; I thought I was following traffic, but it was at the bottom of a very long hill, and a Chrysler Town & Country carries a…
Read MoreNationalized Health Care, Down Syndrome, and Abortion
I’m going to go out on a limb today and say something that a good portion of my readership probably won’t like. Namely: I support Obama’s health care plan. You might remember that last year a group of us put together a bill to mandate coverage of “habilitative” services for children with special needs. This…
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Kathleen M. Basi 