Living With Love

I don’t have much needlework content to share with you today because I’ve been busy with something much more important, and here she is:

In my last couple of posts, I’ve mentioned my best friend Mel and her new baby girl. Well, I’d like you all to meet Slinkey. That’s her nickname, of course; unfortunately, there are too many crazy people in the world for me to put her at risk by publishing her real name, but I think Slinkey fits her, don’t you? It reminds me of the old Slinky toy commercial: “Slinky, Slinky, what a wonderful toy! Slinky, Slinky, fun for a girl and a boy.” And she is lots of fun for everyone blessed enough to know her. Let me tell you a little about the miracle of Slinkey:

Her Mom, Mel, and I have been friends for over 20 years. Almost 19 years ago, she fell in love with ‘CD’ who had custody of his two children from his first marriage. His daughter ‘AL’ was seven years old, has Cerebral Palsy and is profoundly handicapped (can’t talk, walk, feed herself, is in a wheelchair), and his son ‘NA’ was four years old. At the age of 21, Mel and CD married and she committed her life to being a wife to CD and a mother to his kids. As the years passed and we raised our children together, we grew closer and became more like sisters than friends. We all just naturally assumed that one day, Mel and CD would have a child of their own, but it never happened. About 5 years into their marriage, they tried fertility treatments and Mel did become pregnant, but the baby never developed and she miscarried. After that, she contented herself with being Mom to AL and NA.

Last fall, as Mel was nearing the end of her 30’s, she and CD decided that they would give fertility treatments one more shot. Mel made an appointment with a fertility doctor, but decided to go see her regular GYN first to make sure there were no issues that might interfere with the fertility treatments. Per routine, they did a pregnancy test and it came back positive. Oh, the excitement and joy! The third person in our BFF trio, Vickie, and I permanently attached ourselves to Mel and reveled in every moment of her pregnancy. Mel generously allowed us to throw her a huge shower and even let us decorate the nursery. It was so much fun preparing for the arrival of her miracle.

Because of Mel’s age, the doctor’s decided to do some tests to check for genetic anomalies in the baby. That’s when we found out Slinkey has Down Syndrome. It was hard to accept at first, but we soon realized that God doesn’t make mistakes and if we trust Him, things will always work out for our good and His glory. For the next few months we prayed, believed, waited and hoped that the tests were wrong and she was ‘normal’ (whatever that is?). When she was born on July 2, 2007 we knew two things right away: she does have Down’s and that we love her madly and completely just like she is! She truly is a miracle and a gi-normous blessing in our lives.

Thankfully, Slinkey has a ‘light’ case of Down’s. She has great muscle tone and no heart and digestive problems that so often plague Down’s children. Unfortunately, she does have Hydrocephalus, more commonly known as “water on the brain” and had to have a shunt put in yesterday to drain the fluid and relieve the pressure in her head. She came through with flying colors and is doing well. I am headed up to the hospital shortly to see her and hold her and tell her for the 4 billionth time how beautiful she is and how much I love her. If you believe in prayer, please take a moment and whisper a prayer of blessing and healing for our little miracle. Just call her Slinkey; God will know who you’re talking about.

Just to help retain the theme of this blog (Needleworx, remember?), here is a picture of the crib set I made for the nursery. A little sewing content is better than nothing. Happy stitching to you all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tags: Family, Love, Sewing