"Walking Behind Cherie" page 1

Hello to all and Happy New Year,
I have always wanted to tell my daughter’s story and this platform is so perfect. Each blog will be a continuing excerpt of her life. The reason this is titled “Walking behind Cherie” is because I felt as though I was an observer of this light in human form. Well, let’s start at the beginning…………………..
Saturday, December 1, 1972 at 2 pm I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. We named her Cherie Renae. Like all parents we counted fingers and toes and just knew that she was perfect. I was only 20 years old but in that moment I grew up and became a mother. I was told that the pediatrician would be in later to talk to me after he checked her. I waited and he never came. The nurse told me I was in the shower when he came by. Oh well, I wasn’t expecting anything but a littany of how perfect she was. I was breastfeeding so she stayed in my room around the clock. All I could do was stare at her. Sunday, December 2 at 7 am the pediatrician enters my room. He sat down in a chair and said my baby was Mongoloid (the term used back then for Down Syndrome), and I had absolutely no idea what he was talking about. He proceeded to tell me I should institutionalize her as soon as possible but I would be on a waiting list. He said she would be a vegetable. AND he began to cry. The room was spinning and I could not absorb this news. He told me this when I was alone instead of telling me to call my husband and talk to us together. The Dr. is talking and I am dialing the phone. I could no longer hear what he was saying. All I knew was that this was too much for me to take in by myself. My husband answered the phone and could hardly understand me. He heard the words “something is wrong with the baby” and he told me he would be in the car and on the way immediately. His father was right behind him. I called my mother and soon both sets of grandparents were in my room and the Dr. was gone. Through choking tears I tried to repeat what he said. I didn’t understand what he said so I was not very clear about what was wrong. All I knew was that she was mine and she was living with me. I could not see anything wrong with her. It was all so surreal. Until next time………………………..Karol