mysisterhasdownsyndrome8-16

My Sister Has Down syndrome and it Won’t Go Away!

A story about Miranda and Baby Carmen

Melissa Jane Martin

Melissa Jane Martin 17 Lancaster Lane

Weaverville, NC P: 828-626-2462 C: 908-591-5073

E-Mail: [email protected]

1,275 words

“My Sister Has Down Syndrome and It Won’t Go Away” Melissa Jane Martin

908-591-5073

[email protected]

2

One day Miranda woke up with the sun dancing and flickering all over her sweet four-year old face. As she opened her sleepy eyes, her grandma gave her a great big kiss.

“Good morning sweetheart,” her grandma said softly. I have some good news for

you. You have a brand new baby sister!”

“I do? I do?” Miranda said eagerly. “Where is she Grandma? I want to see her.”

“Baby Carmen has to stay at the hospital for a little while longer than most new

babies,” her grandma answered with a smile.

“But why, is something wrong? Is my new baby sister sick or something?’ Miranda

asked.

“No, no dear, not really,” grandma replied. “It’s just that Baby Carmen is very small

and the doctors want to make extra sure that she is strong enough before they send her

home.”

“How long will that take?” Miranda asked, a bit confused.

“Probably not more than a week or so, sweetie. But we can go visit each day until

Mommy and Baby Carmen come home. How is that?” grandma continued.

“YIPEE!” yelled Miranda. “I can’t wait to see her.”

The next day Miranda and her grandma went to the hospital to see Baby Carmen for

the very first time. When Miranda walked into her mommy’s room, her mommy was

holding Baby Carmen in her arms. Miranda ran to see her.

“Mommy, she is so cute and so little. When will my sister be all strong so you can

come home?” Miranda asked eagerly.

“In a few more days, honey,” her mommy answered, “Baby Carmen needs a little

more rest before we can take her home.”


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“Okay, but hurry up,” Miranda blurted out. “I want you and my new sister back

home now!”

The day Baby Carmen finally came home Miranda was excited, but suddenly

became a teeny bit worried about sharing her mommy and daddy with someone else.

“Hmmm,” she thought as she saw her mommy holding the pink bundle in her arms, “I ‘m

not so sure about this.”

When Miranda peeked inside the blanket to see her baby sister, she was surprised

that Baby Carmen still looked so tiny. But her hair stood straight up on top of her head,

which made Miranda laugh because it looked so funny.

As the days passed Miranda started having fun watching Baby Carmen play with her

toys, especially when in her bouncy seat because bouncing always made Baby Carmen

giggle. And if Baby Carmen started to cry, Miranda could make a funny face or give her

tummy a tickle and it always made the crying stop, which made Miranda very proud.

About the time that Miranda decided that having a new baby sister was a good idea,

her mommy told her that baby Carmen had to go to the hospital for an operation.

Miranda felt sad and a little confused. “Why?” she asked her mommy.

“Well honey, Baby Carmen is a little different from other babies because she was

born with a hole in her heart,” Mommy explained, “It has to be fixed with an operation at

the hospital.”

Miranda was even more confused. Baby Carmen didn’t seem sick or different to her

and how could she have a hole in her heart? She didn’t really understand so Miranda

shrugged her shoulders and decided to go play with her favorite dolls, Ariel and Dorothy-

Wizard-of-Oz Barbie, and watched her favorite videos, The Little Mermaid and Shrek.


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A couple weeks went by before Baby Carmen came back from the hospital. Miranda

noticed that she had a big bandage on her chest, but otherwise, she seemed just fine.

Miranda was glad that Baby Carmen was back so they could play together and she liked

helping her Mommy take care of her.

Miranda loved rolling their big blue polka-dot ball to Baby Carmen because each

time she caught it, Baby Carmen would shriek with laughter. And Miranda got to help feed

Baby Carmen her baby food peas, which usually ended up all over Baby Carmen’s face,

which made Miranda shriek with laughter.

Miranda started to notice that her mommy spent a lot of time on the phone talking

about Baby Carmen to doctors and other people. She talked about Baby Carmen much

more than she talked about Miranda, which made Miranda rather sad and a little bit angry

too. But since Miranda loved her little sister, and Baby Carmen was always so happy and

sweet, she would forget she was sad or angry whenever she played with her.

Everything seemed to be going along just fine for the next year or so as Baby Carmen

got older and wasn’t really a baby anymore even though she still seemed little.

However, Miranda noticed that little Carmen seemed to get a lot of colds and ear

infections. Her mommy took little Carmen to the doctor a lot more times than she ever

took Miranda to the doctor and she seemed to make much more fuss over Carmen than

over Miranda!

One day, Miranda marched up to her mommy and said, “Mommy, how come you

pay more attention to Carmen than you do to me?”


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Miranda’s Mommy looked surprised and sad at the same time. She picked up

Miranda, put her on her lap and gave her a great big hug. “Oh, my dear sweet Miranda!”

her mommy said, “I am so sorry you feel that way, but I understand why and it’s okay.

Sweetie, your little sister Carmen is different from other children and different from you.”

Miranda was puzzled and said, “How Mommy, she doesn’t seem different to me

anymore, not since her operation?”

“I’m glad she doesn’t seem different to you honey.” Miranda’s mommy said. “But

she is. That’s why I have to fuss over her. Carmen has something called Down syndrome.

Because she has Down syndrome, she gets sick more often than other children. You

remember when she was tiny and we took her to the hospital for the operation to fix the

hole in her heart, right?”

Miranda said, “Oh yes, mommy “But that got all fixed and so Carmen should be all

better, right?”

“Well sweetie, her heart is better for now, but the Down syndrome part makes it

harder for her to do lots of the things that you can do. Little Carmen needs extra help to

make her muscles strong so she can learn to walk and talk just as well as you can.”

“Will it go away, Mommy?” asked Miranda. “When I get sick it goes away and I

get better.”

“No sweetheart,” her mommy said. “Down syndrome won’t go away. Carmen will

always be different. Carmen will always have Down syndrome. She won’t always be sick,

but the Down syndrome will always be there.”

“How come?” asked Miranda.


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Miranda’s mommy smiled, “Well, it’s just the way she was sent to us,” she said.

“Carmen was born with a little something extra in her body that you and I don’t have and it

made her different.”

“You mean Carmen has something special inside her?” responded Miranda.

“Well, yes sweetie. That’s a wonderful way to describe it. But it doesn’t matter that

Carmen is different, because she’s part of our family and so full of love and sweetness, that

we’re lucky to have her. Don’t you think?”

“Of course Mommy,” Miranda chirped. “Don’t’ be radicalusss! I don’t care that she

is different. She is my very own little sister,” she chirped.

Then Miranda’s mommy said, “Daddy and I love you very much, as much as we

love little Carmen. You’re special inside too. Why, you’re our first-born little girl! But we

need your help with Carmen. We need you to be a special kind of big sister and help little

Carmen get big and strong so she can do all the things you can do and so you can always be

good friends and play together. Do you think you can do that?”

“Sure,” said Miranda, “I can help, if you need me.”

“Oh yes. We certainly do, sweetheart.”

And that was that! Miranda and little Carmen became good friends.

They watch videos together. Shrek has become little Carmen’s favorite movie. They

take walks together with their mommy and daddy. They play dress up together with their

cousin Leah. They play in their pool on the deck in the summer. They go trick-or-treating

together on Halloween. Miranda helps her mommy and daddy with special things they do

at home that mommy calls part of Carmen’s “therapy” to help her get strong.


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Miranda is happy and excited each time her little sister Carmen does something new.

Every time Miranda walks into the room, little Carmen gives her a giant grin from ear to

ear. Carmen has her own little personality and will often do silly things to make Miranda

and her mommy and daddy laugh. When they play ring-a-round-the-rosey, Carmen plops

to the floor gleefully shrieking as they all fall down! She makes funny faces and crosses her

eyes and giggles. She even learned to tell knock-knock jokes like, “Knock-knock.”

“Who’s there?” Miranda will answer.

“Olive,” Carmen whispers.

“Olive who,” Miranda will ask.

“Olive YOU,” Carmen answers with a smile.

And when Carmen and Miranda meet someone who might notice that Carmen is

different, Miranda smiles and proudly explains, “This is my sister Carmen. My sister has

Down syndrome and it won’t go away!”

The End

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