It's that time again!!! Down Syndrome Awareness Month!
So, let's start. Shall we?
Let me tell you about your early days. WOW! That's all I can say. It was overwhelming. Let's start with our first u/s. You see, docs always want to do an u/s to make sure things are going well and if possible, they might even determine the gender of the baby. Since I was over 35 and had problems with your brother's pregnancy, the doc decided to send me for a Level II u/s. (big words for "they sent me to a specialist") After that first u/s, we knew we were in for a scary ride. The doctor told us he noticed a possible heart defect and wanted us to come back for yet another u/s. With each new u/s, we came home with more information, possible new diagnosis and more markers for Down syndrome. They even wanted to do a special test to determine if you had Down syndrome. Ummm...you may not know this but I don't particularly like needles and most especially don't want one stuck in my tummy. (which is what their test would have done) We told them no thank you. It was not necessary as it would not change the direction we were going.
Let me just say what an amazing man your Dad is and was during this time. Even when Mom was very emotional with hormones and such, he managed to ask all the right questions. The most important to me was with each doctor we met, during this time and after you were born, he would ask their opinions on Down syndrome. You see, we didn't want just any doctor working on you. So if they had negative opinions on Ds, we made sure we didn't see that doc again. (believe it or not, there are still many doctors who have dated and just plain WRONG information when it comes to Down syndrome)
So we went for u/s monthly, then bi-weekly and then weekly. With each possible diagnosis, we'd come home and search the internet for information. We had a love/hate relationship with the internet. We found lots of information and were able to ask lots of questions of the doctors. Sometimes, though that information was very scary. We researched best hospitals, in case we needed them. We knew more about heart defects than your average person, that's for sure. We had wonderful friends and neighbors who put us in touch with the right agencies with information on Down syndrome and services we could expect to get. We were as prepared as we could be for the day you were born.
Then one day, the docs decided it was your time to see the outside world. We were ready, or so we thought.
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