Dowie (Da’ud) Bewley

Dowie’s Story

“Dowie’s a fab big brother to the twins and his little sister…”

Dowie (Da’ud) Bewley, Mosaic Trisomy 8, 10/15/2004, Melksham, Wiltshire, England

Dowie is my eldest son and right from the very beginning of my pregnancy I had this feeling something wasn’t right. When I went for my 20 scan they told me that they couldn’t check his abdomen properly because his kidneys were in the way. They didn’t need to say anything really because I could see for myself how large his kidneys were. They offered me a termination and I declined. So I was sent to the other side of London to Kings College hospital where after a 7hr wait to be seen I was told there was no hope, that if my child survived to birth he would be so poorly that he would pass away and so I should seriously consider an abortion. But I decided that it was not my right to choose whether he lived or not and so I decided he deserved a chance. After that we had 2 weekly scans at kings college and 1 a month at my local hospital. At 36 weeks I went for a scan but he couldn’t wait any longer so was born by C section the next day.
His dad was Bangladeshi and so wanted an Arabic name to tie in with his religion, I agreed but I would choose. We named him Da’ud (David-which meant beloved) Hakim (king) but from the day he was born he was my little Dowie. Dowie was a big baby and at birth weighed 9lb2 but within half an hour he pee’d all over the doctor and his weight went down to 7lb15. He was floppy and his Apgar score was low, but he looked perfect to me.  I tried to feed him but he wasn’t interest, the nurse tried with a bottle but he wasn’t interest and by midnight his sugar level was around 1 so he went into SCBU and the next day an ambulance took him away to Great Ormond St children’s hospital. I wouldn’t see him again until day 3 but we lived there until 21st dec. during our time there his was poked and prodded because nobody knew what was going on but on the 15th Dec he was given a mag 3 test and underwent his first reconstruction and it was only then the full scale of Dowies plumbing problems were discovered. At this point he was diagnosed with Psudeo prune belly syndrome…. Fast forwarding…. We go home and by the age if 1 feeding is still a struggle, milestones are late and my health visitor thinks I’m being paranoid but at our next GOSH appointment I ask for genetic tests and by 16mths we have an answer… Trisomy 8 Mosaic syndrome. I was devistated and relieved all in one….
Today Dowie is a beautiful 9 year old, a 9 year old who should be here yet he goes to school, goes to gymnastics and trampolining, who loves swimming, his DS and xbox and his dog. Dowies dad left 2 months after his twin brothers were born and hasn’t bothered since but Dow and I aren’t bothered as he was a bad man who Dowie dislikes. Dowie’s a fab big brother to the twins and his little sister and is very close to his step dad so a happy ending all round….
Here is a video about my Dowie

https://youtu.be/A2GAcHlbQBQ

Some years ago I set up a T8M support group on FB and last year I sold 800 support wrist bands for Trisomy awareness and this year I have made this video which features around 40 of our guys…

https://youtu.be/w2JtT4Zg6Uw

Enjoy 🙂 xxx
Kylie-Clair Bewley
dowiebowie@hotmail.co.uk