Our daughter, Sabina, was born in August of 1989. She was about 5 weeks early and Maya's water broke at home, in bed. We went to the hospital by ambulance and Sabina was born almost w/o any waiting time or pain (easy for me to say.. I bet my wife argues) She was a very small baby that fit onto a paper of A4-size, diagonally, that is about 40 cm´s. Anyway, She was our first baby and since all babies look alike -at least to me 🙂 - we didnt react much to her appearance. She didnt have a very strong voice so her screaming sounded more like a cat when it's hungry. It actually took a while before we realized something was wrong. All staff at the hospital thought she was unusually cute and sweet, noone really thought she looked "abnormal" in any way. After some weeks in the childrens ICU -cause of her being 5 weeks early- she didn't get to keep her food, wouldn't gain weight and so on, and therefore some tests were taken. When we got the results back we were told she had "A chromosome defect, not unlike Down's Syndrome" and it would be a "wait and see case"

We didnt feel much different after finding out. Of course we were a bit... hmm shocked isnt the word, but it left us wondering, that's for sure. What will happen, will she be "ok" in terms of surviving and so, but at that time she was our little girl -as one of the others on this page so well put it: She wasnt a funny sounding syndrome. She was Sabina, and she was ours.

After a while, the doctors found she had a problem (no idea of the english word/term for it) with her hips. She was put in a stretch to fixate the hips in its joints and when that didnt help, she had to undergo surgery.

She then had her lower body in a cast until she was a bit older than one year. Naturally, this affected her evolution as regards crawling, walking and so on.

Some problem with her ears was also found, but the doctors fixed this by implanting small tubes in the ears. She didnt like the first months after that surgery cause she's always been very fond of water, she spends more time below water than above, but it worked fine anyway, she hears well but her speech is a bit "blurry" for those who aren't used to hearing her.

Some kidney problems are still present, showing in the way of blood in the urine. No reason for this has yet been discovered. No malfunction of the kidneys has shown anyway, so we'll just have to wait and see with this too.

Her rate of learning has always been slower than other kids, but steadily ongoing. She's been about half her age about all the time, but the last year has been very good, and just recently there was a seminar/meeting for parents with "kids with special needs" in Uppsala Academical Hospital, Sweden. Maya went there with Sabina and her younger brother Martin 6 months old. A lot of information of which we havent been able to understand half of yet were given. Tests and sthings were carried out and showed she's now at 6 years of age mentally. Since she now is 9 years old this was really a happy things to find out. She´s gone forward quickly and all experts says there is no reason to think this will "ever" change.

Sweden is superb in the way of taking care of these children. Let it be that Sabina is unusual and therefore probably more "interesting" than kids with "just" Down´s, but we've gotten all the support we need, financially, socially and educationally. Sabina goes horse riding every spring, she learned to swim and dive, she's been on many different activities led by and paid for by the hospital and childrens rehab centre. She gets to borrow things that we think may help her in her progress.

She´s interested in playing computer games, painting on the computer, playing with wordprocessors and so, so much that we gave her a computer of her own and that has really helped a lot with her fine motors. The gross motors are fine, but she's a bit "afraid" of playing "wild" games, she likes the company of adults better than kids of her own age. And she loves being in water.. diving, either from the boat, at the local swimming pool or in the tub at home, she LOVES it.

Sabina has an older sister, an older brother and a younger brother. None of these have 10q. Neither would it matter if they did.. Sabina is -in our eyes- no more cause of problems, worries (other than the obvious) than the others, and she's warm, caring, fun and always quick on a laugh. For those out there -and i know there are a lot of you- that thinks having a child with special needs is tough.. : It's NOT. Sure, it's a bit more work with her, but it's worth it and it never feels like "too much" or "poor us" In many ways it's even easier than the other ones.

I probably left out half of what I could write and say.. but this is what comes to my mind. Feel free to mail us if you wonder anything.