Great insiration for those who have special babies (i.e. Down's or other problems)

[Guest guest]

This got sent to another nursing list I am on, and I thought it could be

helpful for many of us when we have to talk with parents who have had babies

with unexpected anomalies.

----Jeanine

.. It is called, " Welcome to Holland, "

and it goes like this:

When you're planning to have a baby, it's like planning a vacation to

Italy. You're all excited. You get a whole bunch of guidebooks, you learn

a few phrases so you can get around, and then it comes time to pack your

bags and head for the airport.

Only when you land the stewardess says, " Welcome to Holland! "

You look at one another in disbelief and shock, saying, " Holland? What are

you talking about? I signed up for Italy. "

But they explain there's been a change of plan, that you've landed in

Holland, and there you must stay.

" But I don't know anything about Holland, " you say. " I don't want to stay. "

But stay you do. You go out and buy some new guidebooks, you learn some

new phrases and you meet people you never knew existed. The important

think is that you are not in a slum full of pestilence and famine. You're

simply in a different place than you had planned. It's slower paced than

Italy, less flashy than Italy, but after you've been here a little while

and you have a chance to catch your breath, you begin to discover that

Holland has windmills. Holland has tulips. Holland has Rembrandts.

But everyone else you know is busy coming and going from Italy. They're

all bragging about what a great time they had there, and for the rest of

your life, you'll say, " Yes, that's what I had planned. "

The pain of that will never go away. You have to accept that pain, because

the loss of that dream, the loss of that plan, is a very very significant

loss. But if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't go to

Italy, you will never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely

things about Holland. (By Carol Turkington)

----Jeanine