“When they had learned he was diagnosed with Down syndrome, they did not feel comfortable. I responded with, ‘Yes, yes, and yes!’ My lunch sat uneaten on the counter. I told my son, ‘You are going to be a big brother!’ With the biggest smile on his face, he shouted, ‘Yahoo this is the best day EVER!’”
‘The subject line read, ‘Down Syndrome Baby.’ My heart skipped a beat. That very morning a precious baby boy was born.’: Cancer survivor adopts ‘special gift’ son with Down syndrome after infertility from endometriosis
‘I held his tiny hand. I knew what was coming. We made the heartbreaking decision and waited for the chaplain arrive.’: Parents ‘devastated’ over loss of son born with Down syndrome, congenital heart defects
“He waited for his dad and I to be able to hold him before he went. I held him as the nurses took the ventilator, with his daddy by his side. I was Saxon’s favorite place to be. I was his safe space. I believe with all my heart, he waited for me.”
‘After I delivered, my doctor handed me my girl. I did not see it. In all of my medical training, I could not tell. She was the most beautiful baby I had ever seen. She was PERFECT.’
“I am a Southern girl and a doctor and I’m used to having it all together. I turned everyone away from the hospital that day, including my sister. I thought I had ruined our lives. I thought I had done something so terrible my husband and child were being punished.”
‘I’m 25 years old. This is my first baby. I couldn’t even look at my husband. But the second I held him, I was madly in love.’: Mom says despite what she was told about Down syndrome diagnosis, ‘this boy was going to be a blessing’
”When Joshua was born, there was no cry. His umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck and the doctor had to pry it off piece by piece. The second I saw him, I knew. At that moment, everything changed.”
‘This was an 18-month-old Caucasian little girl. ‘Do you want to move forward?’ I looked at him as he read it. The biggest smile came over his face as he wrote, ‘YES!’
“I told him this wasn’t a typical ‘let’s do it’ situation. They had just received information about the bio mom of the little girl, and she was pregnant. My jaw dropped. We had never considered two kids, let alone a newborn. I can’t say I was fully on board. The next month – I was pregnant.”
‘Stephanie, our daughter is defective.’ Her father left us after learning of her diagnosis. I wondered how the rest of the world would accept her, after her own flesh and blood CHOSE not to.’
“He reminisced about how he and his friends in school used to make fun of people with Down syndrome and scream across the playground calling them the ‘R’ word. He continued to state, ‘People will look at Hannah and feel sorry for us, and then they will blame this on me.’”
‘I looked at my daughter standing beside me. You could see the fear in her eyes. No one was talking. I finally yelled out ‘HELLO!’
“I kept thinking, ‘I just have to make it to the hospital, I just need to make it to the hospital.’ Her coloring was terrible. I entered the door carrying my limp daughter.”
‘They plopped her on my tummy, facing her daddy. I cried the happiest tears. But, my husband looked at me with the most concerned look on his face. He knew.’
“It’s 2 o’clock in the morning, my water breaks on the toilet. No contractions, no leaking. I assumed it was urine, so I went back to bed. I called the nurse line when I woke up. ‘It’s most likely just urine from the baby shifting on your bladder.’ But for the first time ever? On my due date?”
‘Mom, that boy said Judah looked weird.’ I knew. I saw. I could feel the little boy boring holes into my 4-year-old, who has Down syndrome.’
“I watched him turn away and mention my son to his dad. That’s the first mistake we both made. We both chose to turn away.”
‘Babe, while you were gone, they found some things wrong with the baby.’ I had no idea how I was going to tell him. He missed it all. He had no clue.’
“Brian watched from a phone screen 3,000 miles away as our darling daughter Adaline drew her first breath. Quietly she came, and our lives were never the same.”
