Thursday, June 18, 2009

Ivan Oto Furlan - Mendele's Friend

Hi friends,

Greetings from Slovenia!

First I would like to say that this site is so positive and inspiring!

This is my baby boy, Ivan Oto Furlan whom we love more that anything.


Ivan is 5 months old and he had an open heart operation. He was in a hospital for 1 month (3 weeks in intensive care). Right after surgery he was under sleeping medications for a week, it was a really hard time for Ivan. His heart stopped beating twice and he was in critical condition for 3 days... and we couldn't do anything but wait (it’s hard to describe).

When you find out that your child has DS, the world seems to be falling apart, but it's so the opposite. It's like a great challenge and we want to do everything for Ivan so that he will enjoy his life and develop as much as possible.

I feel like DS made as all even better people, connecting all of us in a way I never imagined. Grandparents, brothers, sisters, aunts, friends even neighbors become truly compassionate...it's like being born again for all of us!

And now he is doing well...likes to smile a lot. We are waiting for a second heart operation when his weight will be around 6 kg (31lb- now he is 4100g or 9lb).


Ivan the day he was born (14.1.09 ) - we didn't know about the Down Syndrome yet.


Ivan and his daddy - one month old

Ivan taking his first bath at home

Ivan and Tine at rave party ;)
ZzzZZzz

Greatest love
Sleepy me

Baby sling
My favourite toy

Sweet dreams

Ivan’s Daddy and I are looking forward to experiencing life with our Ivan so much!

Think Positive,

Kristina Furlan

8 comments:

AY and Fruma said...

Your son is beautiful! I cannot believe the size of his cheeks in the bath picture!!!

Unknown said...

Dear visitors of Mendele's blog, it's nice to hear from you!!
Kristina

Unknown said...

bravo family))))))

MM's Mommy said...

Kristina,

Your beauty does not look like he has Down Syndrome at all! I can't get over his delicious looking pictures and cheeks and happiness. He is one lucky child to have such openly warm, loving and accepting parents! A heart surgery at such a young age, and put to sleep for a week.. sounds terribly scary and intense. How you pulled through!

May you have only happiness and accomplishments! It really DOES get easier!

Many blessings

Anonymous said...

Thanks for sharing! He is such a cutie. I'm sorry he had to go through the surgeries and other scary things. I wish him only good things in his future!

This is such a great project. You really don't know how many people you are reaching!
I've mentioned before that I was directed to your blog when someone I know had a baby girl with DS. She doesn't have internet so I printed out several articles and resources for her, including your blog.

She told me several months ago that she attended some sort of meeting in BP of mothers of kids with DS, and she recognized you from the blog. I don't know if she said anything to you, though. :)

Keep it up!

Shmuli said...

Thanks everyone for your support of Mendele's new friend Ivan. We look forward to hearing more information about the procedures he went through and some tips on how to cope etc.

We might also get to hear what it's like to raise a child with DS in Slovenia!

Thanks Kristina! The post is beautiful!

Shmuli said...

PLEASE CONTRIBUTE:

Are you a parent of a child with DS?

Are you a therapist with great tips on how to help our children reach independence?

Please write to shmulimn@gmail.com
we'd all love to hear from you.

Unknown said...

Ivan Oto is doing well, with all your support. Good news are spreading all over the world and I'm sure that some useful news will reach homes where our children lives.
Every information about DS are welcome and I hope that we will mange to cope together when our children grows from newborn babies, to toddlers, and after that to teenagers and so on...just like Shmuli said.
Many thanks to Friedman family!