What having a SN child has taught me

Over the last few days, I've done some thinking, which is quite frankly, usually tricky for me. I often end up places that are not really very helpful in my head, so it's best not to go there, but the last few days, I've really been thinking about what having Tabitha for a daughter has taught me.

I have learned that I can cope. When she's been screaming at me for days, I can take myself away for 10 minutes, and come back and cope. When she's been up all night being sick (which she was last Wednesday night, urgh) I can cope. When she vomits in the middle of the supermarket, I can deal with it, cope and get my shopping done. When people stare at her because she looks different, I can cope. Sometimes I ask them if there is anything they'd like to know, sometimes I just ignore them, but that's two coping strategies I have for that scenario. When she starts shouting in public, I've got used to ignoring both her, and everyone else, and in that way, I cope. When the 'professionals' tell me to use methods or medications that I know won't work, I can cope...mostly. The odd one will still catch me on a bad day.

Knowing that I can cope is pretty huge I think. If someone had asked me when I was expecting her if I could cope with having a child with a rare chromosome disorder, the answer would have been a categorical no. It turns out, that answer would have been wrong. I am one of lifes worriers, and the future still terrifies me. What will happen as she matures, what will happen to her abilities, will she need further surgery later (very probably), will she always be mobile as she is now, or will she lose that? But knowing what we've survived so far, and what we have coped with, I'm beginning to feel that whatever happens, we'll be ok. We'll cope.