“The phone call came early afternoon. I should have known something was wrong. ‘Excuse me? I’m not even supposed to be at risk.’”
‘But it doesn’t run in our family!’ I’m too young for this. Is it really happening twice?’: Brother with Down syndrome helps parents accept son’s diagnosis, ‘We had so much hope because of him’
‘He’s totally fine.’ I knew something was up. I deleted photos of him. It’s seen as a ‘curse from God.’: Baby diagnosed with Down syndrome months after birth, ‘He is so loved’
“‘There’s nothing to worry about.’ I remember looking for clues. Nobody else did. Not the midwife, not our health visitor, not the doctors. Nobody. I didn’t want it to be true.”
‘TWO flickering heartbeats. I should have been crying tears of joy, but instead I was still crying tears over the loss of our first baby, our fur baby.’: Couple struggles on the long road to twins, one with Down Syndrome
“My husband and I have been married for 6 years, and everything we have gone through from the moment we met just feels like such a tangled web of fate and destiny. I was born and raised in southwest Florida, and my husband, Josh, is from Ontario, Canada. Growing up, we made countless trips to …
‘His heart kept stopping. It was as though I was adrift at sea, waiting for a life vest.’: Mom births baby with Down syndrome who has open heart surgery, ‘I’ll spend the rest of my life shouting his worth from the rooftops’
“The first 36 hours of my son’s life were some of the worst of mine. I wanted to turn back the clock and return back to my normal life. In that hospital room, it felt as though nothing would ever feel normal again.”
‘You could have an abortion. At least save yourself.’ I was pregnant with my first baby, and planning his funeral.’: Woman encouraged to terminate baby with down syndrome, ‘We can’t control what our lives will bring us’
“A week later, I got a phone call from the abortion clinic to schedule an appointment. It turns out my doctor and his wife aborted their child with down syndrome because they thought he or she would become a burden. He thought I should do the same.”
‘Yes, Meg. The baby is healthy, stop worrying.’ Coward. She knew. I saw it and felt sick. I didn’t want to hold her.’: Mom unknowingly births baby with Down syndrome, ‘I want to shout her worth to the world!’
“I grabbed a nurse’s arm as she walked by. ‘What’s wrong, is she okay?’ Stumbling over her words, she responded with, ‘Congratulations, she’s beautiful!’ Coward. She handed her to me before quickly walking out of the room, like she was some kind of damaged goods. Her tongue could barely fit in her mouth. I didn’t want to hold her, feed her, or even look at her. I was furious. All I could hear was that damn whispering.”
‘We found a hole.’ His heart was beating. What did we miss?! I wasn’t a special needs mom. I didn’t have the qualifications for that.’: After 7 kids, 3 miscarriages, mom births baby with Down syndrome, ‘he is our extra special little man’
“‘His heart could be repaired,’ I thought. We could get past that, carry on. And then the doctor said, ‘This is very common with Down syndrome.’ That I didn’t want to hear. Surgery wasn’t going to fix that. I put it out of my mind. Our baby wasn’t going to have Down syndrome! Then the doctor said, ‘You have the option to terminate.’”
‘Don’t take her home with you,’ I was told. ‘If you have other kids, she’ll be a detriment to them.’ How wrong they were.’: Mom keeps baby, now world’s first ‘working model’ with Down Syndrome
“I’d never taken Madeline to a fashion show before because she was always sick. When her health increased, we walked in as I thought to myself, ‘What have I done?!’ I knew full well my daughter would want to be on that catwalk, too. Sure enough, after the show, she turned to me and said, ‘Mom. Me. Model.’ I’m the type of mom to do whatever I can to make things happen. Little did I know what this all would turn into.”
‘I got the test results. I felt I let my husband down. Like I somehow failed to give him the ‘perfect’ baby. The silence was deafening. I kept thinking, ‘Why me?’ Then I thought, ‘Wait, why NOT me?’
“I had a woman sob in my arms out of sympathy. I remember telling my husband, ‘Do you think we’ll ever laugh or be happy again?’ I figured I had 3 choices. Give up, give in, or give it everything I’ve got. I had a little boy growing inside me who I needed be strong for. I went with option 3.”
‘We were about to see our baby. We were filled with so much hope. But our world was about to come crashing down. The lab tech was very quiet. I thought she was having a bad day.’
“The doctor said our daughter wouldn’t be able to feed or dress herself, she would be a ‘burden to society’ and would most likely ‘end up in an institution.’ I believed him. He pushed for termination and never once told us anything positive. We couldn’t be more proud of the little lady she is.”
