Precerpt from Raising God's Rainbow Makers: Shane's Intrauterine Programming
When I was pregnant with Shane, the Army had just begun allowing women to stay in service through pregnancy. There were no rules yet — no modified PT, no exemptions, no “take it easy.” If you were in uniform, you did what everyone else did.
So I did. Every morning I walked two miles to work. During the day, I did chin‑ups, sit‑ups, push‑ups, and formation runs. I even took — and passed — a full PT test at nine months pregnant. No one thought to ask whether it was safe. It was simply what the Army required, and I was determined to prove that pregnancy didn’t mean weakness.
Shane was born on time, healthy, and strong — my healthiest baby. But from the start, he was different. At just a few months old, when most babies are learning to roll over, Shane would do chin‑ups if I offered him my fingers as a bar. If I held his ankles the way soldiers do for sit‑ups, he’d perform sit‑ups with perfect form. It wasn’t a trick; it was instinct. He seemed to know the rhythm of exertion before he could crawl.
He became the life of Army parties. Children were supposed to stay home, but everyone begged me to bring Shane so he could show off his chin‑ups and sit‑ups. The lieutenants in training with me never tired of watching him, and he never tired of entertaining them. He was a one‑baby morale boost.
At the time, I thought it was just funny — a quirk, a coincidence. But years later, when I learned about intrauterine programming, I realized Shane might have been living proof of it. The idea is simple but profound: the environment inside the womb shapes the baby’s physiology, neurology, and temperament. The fetus isn’t passive; it’s learning from the mother’s rhythms, stresses, and movements.
When I marched, ran, and trained, Shane experienced the cadence of my steps, the sway of my gait, the rise and fall of my breathing. My body’s exertion became his sensory world. His developing nervous system was being patterned by motion, discipline, and endurance.
And that pattern never left him. At ten, he hiked a thousand miles of the Appalachian Trail with his father — the youngest through‑hiker at the time. Today, nearly fifty, he still spends weekends hiking mountain trails in California. He goes alone now, not because he prefers solitude, but because his two children have birth defects and his wife stays home with them. Still, he feels the call of the trail — the need to move, to climb, to breathe in rhythm with the land.
It’s as if the world he experienced before birth became his compass. Movement isn’t just something he does; it’s something he is.
I didn’t know it then, but my Army pregnancy may have given him a lifelong gift — the imprint of rhythm, resilience, and motion. What felt like survival at the time became a kind of inheritance.
That’s the mystery of intrauterine programming: the quiet way the womb teaches the body how to live — and sometimes, how to keep moving through every mountain life sets before it.
Book Description:
Raising God's Rainbow Makers
A Family Memoir of Grace, Grit, and Growing Up Different
What happens when a military family welcomes four children—each with wildly different needs—into a world not always built to support them?
In Raising God’s Rainbow Makers, one mother shares the remarkable journey of raising two children with complex disabilities—one with spina bifida, one with CHARGE Syndrome—and two intellectually gifted children, all born in different states during years of military life. Through medical crises, educational challenges, and societal roadblocks (both intentional and unintentional), this honest and inspiring memoir tells the story of how one family built a life of strength, compassion, and resilience.
With warmth and unflinching honesty, the author reflects on emergency surgeries, IEP battles, unexpected victories, and the fierce sibling bonds that formed in the face of it all. The children—now grown—bear witness to the power of support, faith, and never giving up.
This is not just a story of survival. It is a celebration of difference, a chronicle of hope, and a powerful testament to what love and determination can build when the world says "impossible."
Keywords:
Parenting memoir; Special needs parenting; Raising children with disabilities; Military family life; Family resilience; Inspirational family story; Faith-based memoir; Coping with medical challenges; Sibling support stories; Gifted children; Spina bifida; CHARGE Syndrome; Hydrocephalus; Congenital disabilities; Complex medical needs; Pediatric neurosurgery; IEP and special education; Gifted education; Educational advocacy; Inclusive education; Hope and healing; Courage and strength; Love and perseverance; Raising different children; Disability acceptance; Parenting through adversity; Overcoming barriers; Finding joy in hardship; Special needs journey; Family unity and support; For parents of disabled children; For parents of gifted children; For educators and therapists; Christian parenting memoir; For families facing rare diagnoses; Real-life parenting stories; Memoirs about raising children; Stories of medical miracles
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Read more stories -- and photos -- about the Mahlou family in the blog (no longer maintained), Clan of Mahlou.
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