Dani’s Story: Unexpected beginning

Hi, my name is Dani. Dad is keyboarding for me since I’m a bit slow in the department of fine motor skills.  I have cerebral palsy, and although I’m mostly affected from the hips down, writing and typing are difficult at best. Let’s just say that I wear glasses instead of contact lenses because I don’t want to put my eye out. (Kind of like Christmas Story, huh?)

I am in the process of writing my story for publication. In the meantime, Dad suggested that I use his special ed blog  to give readers a glimpse of my life growing up with cerebral palsy.  I am delighted to share my story because I think it has value for everyone connected to special needs.

As far as my parents and I were concerned, my life inside the embryo was great and uncomplicated. My birth was to take place in late March of 1985. My mother was excited and so happy. I was her first child, and she could hardly wait.

Mom didn’t have to wait for March. Halfway through the month of January, I decided to meet the outside world.  Two months and a few days earlier than expected.

Wednesday, January 16, 1985, Mom went into labor. Dad took her to the hospital at 4:00 pm,  and she continued labor. Her gynecologist was out of town, so a colleague took the call. The colleague said to call her back when she had dilated appropriately. Contractions continued for what seemed forever.  The on-call gynocologist was informed. This time she prescribed meds to stop the labor.  But, alas! I was determined, and contractions continued in spite of the meds.

The regular doctor arrived at 9:00 Friday morning, and prescribed meds to induce labor with instructions to break Mom’s water.

After 49 hours of labor, I arrived at 5:14 pm, January 18, 1985. It was not a pretty sight. [I'll tell you all about it in my next post.]

Advertisement