Nicholas was lucky enough to be chosen as one of nothingdown.org’s #2020ambassadors! Thanks to this amazing opportunity, we have been able to connect with new families from all over the world. I thought this would be a good time to reintroduce ourselves.
We are the Goewey family of Oswego, NY. My husband’s name is Nick. We have a daughter named Marley who is 8 months old and our son, Nicholas, who is two. I, Mary, created this blog because when my son was diagnosed with Down Syndrome, I was thrown for a loop. Even though I had friends with children, none of them could truly relate to what I was going through. I needed someone to connect with, but didn’t know where to look.
One night, during a midnight feed, I found myself mindlessly scrolling instagram to pass the time. I was still deep in my postpartum depression, and was just perusing to keep my mind distracted from all of the fears I had about my son.
I came upon a family and quickly noticed that they had a son with Down Syndrome. As I looked through their pictures, I couldn’t help but think how amazing their life looked. At that moment, I knew that everything was going to be fine.
Then, I was hooked.
I started finding so many accounts to follow who had families like ours, and watching them made me so happy. I watched them celebrate milestones, enjoy their siblings, and do things that every other happy child that I knew could do.
It became my new obsession! The more I saw, the more I knew that my son did not have to miss out on anything. My husband and I did not have to change our whole identities to accommodate our new normal. Everything was going to be alright after all.
One day, while I was driving home, I was reflecting on the day. I was noticing that as I was acclimating to life outside of the maternity leave bubble, I was getting a lot of looks of pity. These stopped making me feel sad, and started making me feel motivated. I thought, “I wish there was a way to share with everyone all at once that my son does not need to have as many limits as they think he does.”
At that moment, Limitless Nicholas was born.
I pulled into the driveway, ran inside and bought the domain name without thinking twice. I have been blogging about our journey every since.
Our journey has not been all rainbows and butterflies, and at times, it has been extremely difficult. If there is anything that I have learned through this experience, it is the power of the human resolve. That is what I have gained most through this community of families who all show amazing strength and resilience.
It is really tough for me to post on facebook, because when I post, I end up looking through it. What do I see? You already know. People going out of their way to put people down, judge their lifestyles, and most famously, shame parents on their choices. Most of the time, I wish I could unsee what I discovered during a quick scroll.
However, instead of deleting my account and never turning back, I am going to do what Nicholas’ fellow ambassadors have done, and fill people’s timelines with celebrations, joy, and some good old fashioned cuteness.
Thanks to organizations like Nothing Down, more people can see stories of success through Down Syndrome, whether they have someone in their family with an extra chromosome or not! We are so proud to be a part of that this year. Thank you to everyone who has shared our story so far! And thank you to nothingdown.org for this opportunity!
Lastly, thank you to all of the families who are brave enough to share their stories online with the rest of us. Without you, we would have been lost.
Too see Nothing Down’s ambassador announcement, click here: Ambassador Announcement
Nicholas is at the two minute mark!
To visit their website, go to http://www.nothingdown.org