Page 21 - YOU Magazine | Issue 2

In the beginning
Growing up in New Zealand’s northern most city of Whangarei, Natasha was the oldest child in
a family of boys. She enjoyed a humble but happy upbringing but with close family members entrenched in gang culture, she sought a different way of life.
In December 1997 she and her then partner found their way to Melbourne where Natasha secured work packing automotive parts in a factory and later as a forklift driver.
A nurturer by nature, her goal was to one day have her own team of All Blacks. Things went to plan and she soon found herself pregnant with Max. Both the pregnancy and birth progressed normally and the first-time mum was beyond ecstatic to be starting a family of her own.
Max was about two and a half when sister BB came along. Again, Natasha’s pregnancy progressed
normally and despite the fact Max still wasn’t talking, all early developmental markers appeared to be met.
A rough start
When BB was six months
old, Natasha and her partner took both children in to see a maternal care nurse. As the nurse was filling out BB’s blue book, Natasha noticed that she kept stealing glances at Max who was in the corner playing quietly.
Convinced that something was amiss, the nurse asked if Max had ever been professionally assessed before requesting permission
to complete a developmental growth check.
More at ease with the New Zealand Plunket system of
child health and development monitoring than Australia’s Blue Book system, Natasha noticed that when the nurse was finished
observing Max, she jotted down a “few Ps” but that “it was mostly As” in his book.
“I didn’t realise of course that the P stood for present but the
A stood for absent so when the nurse explained what it meant,
I got my hackles up. When she suggested that something was wrong with my kids, being a bit stubborn, I took it personally. I yelled and stormed out, convinced she had it wrong.”
Despite her doubts, Natasha made a point of keeping a watchful eye on Max, if only to prove the nurse’s suspicions wrong. But 12 months later when he still wasn’t talking, she was forced to accept that he needed help.
After finally working up the nerve to suggest this to her partner, Natasha – who by this time had also given birth to Cedric - was met with more resistance.
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