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The Year My Son and I Were Born: A Story of Down Syndrome, Motherhood, and Self-Discovery [NOOK Book]
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For most of her life, Kathryn Soper was like most people in one key respect: She hadn’t given any serious thought to the subject of disability. That all changed the day her son, Thomas, showed up with an extra chromosome.
With six other children at home, Soper was prepared for the challenges another newborn would bring. But after Thomas’s complicated birth, his diagnosis—Down syndrome—forced her to face her deepest fears and weaknesses, her ignorance and prejudice, and her limitations as a mother and as a human being. Her struggle, coupled with the demands of caring for a fragile baby and juggling her family’s needs, sparked the worst depression she’d experienced in decades.
In The Year My Son and I Were Born, Soper takes us along on her personal journey through Thomas’s tumultuous first year—as she strives to balance the loss of the child she thought she would have with loyalty for the baby she actually holds in her arms. Can she love Thomas for himself? Can she protect him from the world’s insensitivity—andfrom her own doubts?
Ultimately, Soper escaped her downward spiral of despair and emerged with newfound peace. Antidepressant therapy restored her equilibrium, and interactions with friends and family brought needed perspective. But the most profound change came through her growing relationship with Thomas. His radiant presence shone through her outer layers of self, where fear and guilt festered, and reached the center of her very being—where love, acceptance, and gratitude blossomed in abundance.
Excerpt from The Year My Son and I Were Born
Could I love such a son?
I rubbed my arms and legs with a rough washcloth, determined to scrub away not only blood and sweat and oil, but also doubt. Of course I could love Thomas. I already did. I loved him as I’d loved each of my new babies, with a primal strength full and fierce. . . .
Yet I knew the bond wouldn’t be enough, not for long. It was instinctual. Even animal. Thomas deserved human love, the delight and appreciation and tenderness one unique person feels for another. I’d never felt this for a person with Down syndrome or any other disability. I didn’t know if I could.
Goose bumps rose on my arms—the hot water was gone. And my time to indulge in weakness was gone. A child waited in a plastic box down the hall, and six more were waiting at home, waiting for security to surround them like a warm mantle, soft yet strong. Waiting for their mother.
Prologue
Fall
Winter
Spring
Summer
Epilogue
Additional Resources
About the Author
Anonymous
Posted February 26, 2011
No text was provided for this review.
Anonymous
Posted November 16, 2011
No text was provided for this review.
LendMe™
Overview
For most of her life, Kathryn Soper was like most people in one key respect: She hadn’t given any serious thought to the subject of disability. That all changed the day her son, Thomas, showed up with an extra chromosome.
With six other children at home, Soper was prepared for the challenges another newborn would bring. But after Thomas’s complicated birth, his diagnosis—Down syndrome—forced her to face her deepest fears and weaknesses, her ignorance and prejudice, and her limitations as a mother and as a human being. Her struggle, coupled with the demands of caring for a fragile baby and juggling her family’s ...