Simply Different

Videos that show doctors or other healthcare professionals handling children without the use of restraint and without pain nor stress are great to watch. A sense of humor and music can also be beneficial during a hospital visit. Just like paying real attention to someone, taking some extra time and adjusting to what a child needs in that moment. 

This is THE question I get asked most often when in hospital. And no, I’m not talking about giving my little special needs girl a big hug, this is about physical restraint. It seems like an innocent question because it’s only ‘just a sec’, right? Well, for my daughter it’s never just a second. And every time I wonder: is there any other way?

Like a lot of Dutch babies, Bommel was born at home. The delivery went so fast that, even if we would have wanted to, there wasn’t any time to go to the hospital. If I had known then, what I know now, I would have done it differently – if I could have. But that’s just it: I couldn’t have. Because an airway defect still doesn’t show on a ultrasound. And there is no prenatal screening that could have given us a hint of what was coming…