Post by Nightline.

This article that came out today was difficult reading. Any story about aborting a baby with Down’s Syndrome is bound to strike a nerve. Mainly because I could have been that woman. I didn’t find out that Xavier, now five, had Down’s Syndrome until he was two months old. I had a blissful pregnancy, an […]

I was in the supermarket, otherwise known as my second home. My son, Xavier, (three at the time) was squirming in the trolley seat, eating raisins I had given him in a vain attempt to make think that shopping was a treat. An old man approached me and instinctively my heart sank. I, could see […]

When I wrote my book, ‘Happily Ever After,’ about Xavier’s first year, I had a lot to say. It wasn’t just about Down’s Syndrome, but also about my experiences of being a single, working mum trying and often failing to keep my head above water. Now Xavier is five, I still find I have a […]

I love a label. Chanel, Vivienne Westwood, Jimmy Choo… you get the picture. However I really dislike labels when they are used to describe people, and in particular my son. So, he has Down’s Syndrome, and apparently that makes him need lots of labels. Disabled, special needs, additional needs, or ‘the boy with Down’s.’ I […]

Xavier started his second year of school recently. On the first day of term I had a moment of reflection, (it literally was a moment as I was working on a deadline but that’s another story), and couldn’t quite believe that we had survived a whole school year. Actually, Xavier had done OK, and I […]

When I wrote ‘Happily Ever After,’ a memoir about my experiences of pregnancy, birth and of course the subsequent diagnosis of Down’s Syndrome, it started out as a huge rant that no one, myself included, would want to read. So I started again, because I wanted to put it into words, and I did find […]

Still feeling a bit reflective about the new school year blah, blah, blah. I can safely say that on the whole I am very happy with Xavier’s first foray into schoolboy hood. Well, apart from the things I’m not happy about. Throwing socks over fences, stealing everyone’s snacks if they look better than his, refusing […]