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Sam

When Sam was born it was noticed straight away that he was ‘floppy’, a classic sign of Down's Syndrome, and a blood test confirmed his condition. Nancy and her husband Rob were shocked. Nancy looks back now at her initial response, and realises that some of her expectations were ‘ridiculous’. "I didn’t really know what I had. I felt ‘I haven’t got a real baby’. I also felt very strongly that I wasn’t allowed to be pleased that I’d got a baby".

She admits that it was difficult to tell friends and family about Sam’s condition. Once she told people most people said ‘well he’s still lovely. We’ll still love him, we shall love him even more. We’ll just have to find out about it’. "I was quite frightened of other peoples’ reactions, but all my friends and family have been fantastic".

The other new mothers she met in hospital after having Sam were very accepting of him. They really helped her put things in perspective, and didn’t make Sam’s condition a big deal. They shared stories of sleepless nights, and breastfeeding difficulties, and Nancy felt just like any other new mum.

Nancy and Rob are keen that they should do all the ‘ordinary’ things with Sam that any other new parents would do. Nancy admits that she does wish that Sam didn't have Down's, because she is sad that learning things is so much more difficult for him. "I’m sorry that he will probably have to put up with other people’s prejudices as he gets older, but then he’s not the only person who’s going to have to do that…I do worry about his future and how it will be, but I wouldn’t be a parent if I didn’t worry about his future".

Nancy feels the most valuable thing she’s learnt in the past year is that there’s no such thing as a ‘normal’ child.