Road Map to Holland or Quick Easy Diabetic Recipes for One

Road Map to Holland: How I Found My Way Through My Son's First Two Years With Down Syndrome

Author: Jennifer Graf Groneberg

An exceptional memoir that provides emotional insight and practical advice.

It's like planning a trip to Italy, only to get off the plane and discover you're actually in Holland. You need a new road map, and fast...

When Jennifer Groneberg and her husband learned they'd be having twin boys, their main concern was whether they'd need an addition on their house. Then, five days after Avery and Bennett were born, Avery was diagnosed with Down syndrome.

Here, Jennifer shares the story of what followed. She dealt with doctors-some who helped, and some who were disrespectful or even dangerous. She saw some relationships in her life grow stronger, while severing ties with people who proved unsupportive. And she continues to struggle to find balance in the hardships and joys of raising a child with special needs. This book is a resource, a companion for parents, and above all, a story of the love between a mother and her son-as she learns that Avery is exactly the child she never knew she wanted.

Publishers Weekly

Montana wife and mother Groneberg traces in her tenderly moving account the life-changing realization after the premature birth of her twin boys that one of them, Avery, has Down syndrome. Utterly unprepared for the emergency C-section of the seven-week-early preemies, Groneberg and her writer husband, Tom, the parents of a four-year-old, are devastated by the news about Avery, and they must gradually alter their easygoing future plans about raising their kids. They reject the notion of adoption, suggested by a well-intentioned nurse at the hospital where the babies are ensconced in the neonatal intensive-care unit, and embark on an exhaustively trying, ultimately enlightening journey to care for the needy babies, especially Avery, and educate themselves about his condition. Rising from the shame of feeling that their family is "broken," and letting slide hurtful comments by a grocery-store clerk or neighbor, Groneberg devoured books and information from the Internet, and began to foster their son's development by seeking out physical therapists and specialists. Small gains in Avery's motor skills were causes for celebration, and the beginning of speech the greatest gift the parents could ask for. Groneberg affectingly delineates these gradual, hard-won stages during Avery's first year toward love and acceptance. (Apr.)

Copyright 2007Reed Business Information

Lisa M. Jordan <P>Copyright &copy; Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. - School Library Journal

Inspired by "Welcome to Holland," Emily Perl Kingsley's 1987 essay about her experiences raising a special-needs child, Groneberg here shares her own story, which begins with her unexpected early delivery of twin boys, Avery and Bennett; it continues with Avery's being diagnosed with Down syndrome five days later and follows her from there. As she narrates her disorienting experience ("It's like planning a trip to Italy, only to get off the plane and discover you're actually in Holland. You need a new road map, and fast..."), we are drawn in by her candid revelations about the emotions and other discoveries she encounters along the way. Groneberg explores the pain of sharing the news with friends and family-not everyone is able to look past the diagnosis and see the wonder of Avery. She includes an extensive bibliography, a glossary of terms, and resources for parents who might find themselves in a similar situation. A beautiful book full of insight into life with Down syndrome, this recounts a trip that did not go according to plan but turned out to be perfect after all. Highly recommended.

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