We’re excited to announce that NOAH’S A BIG BROTHER!!!
And as you can tell by looking at that super duper smile on this face, he is excited!!! And so are we! In fact, we got to see our new baby and hear his/her heart beat for the first time last week…and yes, I teared up! New life is such a beautiful thing.
Like all proud parents I have no shame in sharing pictures and videos of my children every chance I get (yes, I’m one of those parents) so let me be the first to introduce you to either Speck Wildhorse Smith (if we have a boy) or Audio Science Smith (if we have a girl.) …..Just kidding, I saw those names on a list of the strangest celebrity baby names! (Although Pilot Inspektor Smith does have a nice ring to it.) 🙂
Introducing Noah’s Brand New Little Brother Or Sister!
If a picture is worth a thousand words, a video is worth millions. Just take a few seconds and watch the video of our 9 week old baby’s heart beating. (For real, you won’t be disappointed.)
I mean seriously. THAT IS THE SOUND OF A 9 WEEK OLD’S HEART BEATING INSDIE OF ANOTHER HUMAN BEING! IS THAT CRAZY OR WHAT?!!??
I have no idea how anyone could listen to something like that and believe that 1.) The little baby growing inside my wife isn’t a human being, and 2.) That there isn’t a God.
#MindBlown
Will We Be Doing Any Sort Of Prenatal Testing?
If you read Noah’s birth story, then you know we didn’t know Noah had Down syndrome until 3 hours after he was born. It was a total surprise to us. (Talk about a shock.) We didn’t do any testing when my wife was pregnant with Noah, and we aren’t going to do any this go round either. I’m not against prenatal testing if it’s used to help a parent prepare for any surprises in advance, and not for checking to see if a child is worthy to born. (Did you know a mother’s womb is the most dangerous place in the world for a child with Down syndrome?)
I personally think all of these prenatal tests cause more stress, worry, and anxiety they they are worth, and would personally never want to have them preformed. Most importantly, the results of the test wouldn’t change anything for us in any way.
God’s been in the business of making people for a very long, and He’s really good at it. We trust Him…no matter what He has up His sleeve. 🙂
God Knows What He’s Doing
I do have some thoughts to share about how I feel regarding having a child after having a child with Down syndrome. This pregnancy feels different (emotionally) than when my wife was pregnant with Noah. I’m still processing some of it, and will share more in a later post. It doesn’t feel different in a bad way, it just feels different. Again, we trust God. He’s in control. He knows what He’s doing. And if I’ve learned anything from Noah’s birth, it’s:
God’s plan is ALWAYS better than my plan, and His plan is usually always DIFFERENT than my plan.
And I’m ok with that.
Oh…and one more thing…..I totally should have thought through the name of my website a little more! 🙂
I can’t wait to share more about our new little baby with you as he/she grows and develops! Noah is so excited to be a big brother, and we are so excited to welcome a new little one to our family!
About Rick Smith
Congrats!! I’m sure Noah will be a wonderful, loving, big brother-!! I am so happy for you all!
Of course it feels different; Dad, it is a different child. I have 5 and each one felt different; they are all related but oh so different personalities but they are supposed to be different. What amazes me is all those possible combinations to create one person coming from just two people. Our God is a awesome God….and the Bible says” He knows us in the womb”……be blessed sweet family…
Indeed they are! Thanks for the comment!
Congrats congrats I can not wait to “meet” the new baby when will they b here.
Thanks!
Praise God for this new little life. Praying for a good and healthy pregnancy. You are blessed and I enjoy being able to share this journey with you all!
Congrats and thank you for sharing your wisdom.
Congrats on the news! I feel like i know you, been following you since the Target ad post. Anyways, my nephew is 5 and has Ds and is becoming a big brother too! So exciting! I loved hearing my childs heartbeat too throughout pregnancy. Again happy for your family!
Congratulations! It’s so exciting to have your second, that’s when life changes all over again 🙂 Best wishes for a happy healthy pregnancy!
Yeah, how wonderful !!! Congrats
Congratulations! Such wonderful news. Noah will be a great big brother!!!!!! 🙂
Congrats guys! I was immediately interested in reading about whether y’all were having prenatal testing because I have a son with Down Syndrome and have wondered about whether we should when we try to have another baby (because we do want another one ..or two..or three. 😉 ) I feel like I would want to know because we went through all the heart surgery and gastric surgery stuff, but when the time comes I’m not so sure!
Noah’s gonna be a great big bro! Thanks for sharing your experience! I have been following this blog since Ethan was born. My brother told me about it. He is awesome that way and looked it up when he heard about Ethan’s diagnosis. 🙂 We have a blog, too, about our experience if you get a chance to look it up.
betterthanexpected321.wordpress.com
How lucky for you guys and sweet Noah! He will be an awesome big brother he has lots of stuff to teach a sibling esp about spaghetti and water hoses :0)
No wonder you were so busy last few months…. It’s really good timing to have another baby. Congratulations!!!! will see the little one in next March!!!!
So happy for all of you. Best thoughts wishes hugs and prayers as God blesses your family again. Enjoy every minute of your new adventure. Lotz of love from Illinois!
By the way, I would only want to know for our information to be prepared, We will always keep our kids. 🙂
You have no idea how much this post speaks to me 🙂 Your blog and the lovely Kelly Hampton are the two blogs I found the day my second daughter was born about a year ago when they told me the suspected she had Down syndrome. And crazy enough, I just recently found out I was pregnant as well! Except I am 10 weeks now. I totally know what you guys are going through, having a pregnancy following a Down syndrome pregnancy. It certainly is different. I hope your wife as well as I have very happy healthy pregnancies! Take care guys, and congratulations!
This is awesome news!! Can’t wait to hear as you walk this journey! Congrats to all of you and what a great big brother Noah will make!
Woo-hoo! Noah will be a fabulous big brother 🙂
So thrilled for you & your new addition. I can totally relate to all you are feeling. We had Ryan 26 months after Avery was born. Having another baby was the best decision we’ve ever made. They are best buddies & typical brothers who both just learned the word “mine”!!!
I look forward to following you on this fantastic new journey! God bless you all!!
My boys!!
Congratulations! Our Meredith (3) just became a big sister this May and she is doing great at her new job. I think it is really good for her maturity and independence. Noah will be a wonderful big brother!
Be like George Forman and name all your kids the same thing. That way you don’t need to worry about the title of your website 🙂
Congratulations to your family. Many of us completely understand what you are feeling. I have a 22 year old son who has Down syndrome. Went on to have another child, she is 19 and adopted a little girl who has Down syndrome and Autism. God Bless your family!
Congrats Rick and Abbie! I’m so excited for y’all! I know Noah is going to be a great big brother! Praying for y’all as you prepare for your world to change again…with another little one! 🙂
Congratulations to you and your family, I am tearing up just reading this. The first sonogram is amazing and really amazing!!! God is great<3
Oh my goodness!!!! How great is you news!!!! You won’t believe this but I took my grandson, Cullen, who has down syndrome to his therapy session today and from out of nowhere I started thinking about Noah and both of you and was wondering if you would have more children. I am SOOOO happy for you. My grandson has a twin sister, as well as an older brother and sister who do not have ds . I know that you can fully understand when I say that he is such a blessing to all of us. We also did not know about him until after his birth.You are right when you say that God knows what He’s doing. I will keep you all in my prayers. 🙂
Sharon
Congratulations to all of you. I am truly excited for your family. Children are really a wonderful gift that God gives us. I pray that your wife has an uneventful pregnancy and enjoys being pregnant as much as I did. I never felt better when I was pregnant and that’s why we have four children, other than that is what God knew was going to happen. He knew our children before we did. Blessings, Becky
Congratulations on the future new addition to your family! I’m so glad that you and your wife decided not to do any prenatal testing. My son is 9 months old. His diagnosis was a surprise. My husband and I chose not to do amy testing for him and I’m sure that we won’t for our next one. I figure that if God decides that my next child will have DS too, I’m pretty well informed on the subject. Here’s Hollis
Congratulations 🙂
I’m holding our now 8 week old third bub – it’s been such a joy to grow our family & to see our Jovie be a big sister xx
I’m so excited for you! Our Jennifer (our daughter with Down syndrome) was our first and it was such an amazing experience to have 2 more children after she was born. Jenna is 6.5 years older than Brooke and 9.5 years older than Russell. It was so exciting with each of them and each pregnancy was great. I don’t regret any of it and I did have amniocentesis with Russell but only because our OB insisted. I knew that Jenna was our “bonus” baby and that she was our only bonus. All of our children are grown now and when I look back I think how delightful it was when they were little. I will admit it was a bit of a tough time when the two younger ones surpassed Jennifer in most of their abilities but we knew that would happen and we got past it. Overall, I would not change a thing. Good luck to you and I’m sure Noah will be an incredible big brother!!
So Happy For You All ….. Prayers and Good Wishes … Noah will be a great Big Brother… our Warren (8 yrs) is a great Big Brother to Samuel, who was born last Nov…. Love the Site Gigi
I am so excited for you! We had no prenatal testing with any of our three boys either. Our third ended up diagnosed with a rare genetic condition called Hunter Syndrome and I’ve often thought about a future time when they may someday prenatally test for genetic conditions like it. We’ve been given terrible heartache, but also incredible blessing and even a miracle. I can’t imagine what families would give up if they tested and aborted such a baby. You are doing amazing work, raising awareness and living your testimony to others. I love hearing more about Noah and can’t wait to see him as a big brother.
Yay, we are so happy for you guys! As a mother of four your heart just grows and grows!!!
How exciting for all of you. God Bless.
So happy to hear the good news!!! I have 3 children and our third, now 7 weeks old, was born with CHD and Down syndrome. What a wonderful blessing children are. Im so Excited that Noah will have a brother or sister. May God bless your pregnancy and delivery.
Congratulations, so happy and excited for you!
I am so excited for Rick and Abbie, but especially for Noah! When my 8th child was born with DS, my Doctor told me that the best therapy for her would be her brothers and sisters. My children have proven that theory right over and over again!
I also had another child after her….they are only 21 months apart. She loves her baby brother so much! I have to keep my eye on her, because her “love” can get a little aggressive. 🙂 They sure do play good together though.
Another pregnancy after something like DS, certainly does feel different. Not bad, but you just deal with some weightier issues that didn’t really seem real before.
I also did not have any prenatal testing for any of my children. My daughter’s DS was also a complete shock at her birth. In spite of that, I refused all testing for my next child. Most people could not understand that and thankfully, I had a Dr who knew me well enough that she barely even mentioned the tests in passing. When I told her that I didn’t want them, she said, “I knew you would say No”, and she never mentioned them again! It would not have mattered. Testing wouldn’t change anything that I did, and what was to be was already there.
I cannot say that I was without worry, but DS certainly didn’t hold the fear for me that it did when my daughter was born. Mostly, I worried about my ability to handle two children with DS should it happen again. Every day I would pray for peace…not to worry and to be able to rest in God’s plan for my baby boy and myself, and for joy…so that I could enjoy this pregnancy as much as I did with all the others.
God granted my prayers, and I quickly overcame my anxieties…each normal sonogram helped with that. 🙂 Eventually, my son, Lucas was born completely normal and healthy in mind and body. But as any parent who loves their “special needs” child knows, even if he hadn’t been, it wouldn’t have changed how much I loved him!
Your new baby is a blessing and how wonderful that God already has a plan for the new little Smith baby!
Just saw your little ones’ photos. What a cuddly Dynamic Duo. God bless.
You will not believe this, but the other day on fb I saw a post from you, nothing to do about the baby, but I heard Noah’s going to be a big brother as I read the post. Amazing. Congratulations!
Hola, felicidades 🙂
We hage two kids with DS, Elias is 8 and we also found out ahout the diagnosis until he was born, Eva is 6 and we choose her two years ago (we adopted her) and to br honest im ready to have another baby s lets see what God wants for our family
By the way when we only had Elias my blog was ki hijo Elías (Elías my son) i had to changd and move everything to a new blog that has my name way easier if we have another kid 😉
congrats, exciting news. Looking forward to more pics
Congratulations. So happy for all.
Congratulations!
Congrats to you all. I’m sure Noah will be a great big brother. 🙂
Hello! Everyone! Just wanted to say Congratulations on your new bundle of joy! Love the title of the page!! Its really cute 🙂 I also want to say thank you for sharing your new bundle of joy’s heart beats; thats such a wonderful blessing to have heard 🙂 I for one have not heard a babies heart beat in 7 years, which was on own babies heart beats…. Yes God’s plans are always better then the ones that we think that we have for our own families… I never heard of prenatal testing with my older 2 kids & then when I was pregnant with my younger 3 kids I did not want to harm my babies, if God wanted me to have those tests done to see if my children had DS, he would have gave me the test when I got pregnant, but I didn’t have any children with DS, but my 2 younger sons have ADHD & my youngest son is blind in his left eye & almost in his right, and there’s nothing can be done to save his eye site, either… My husband and I wanted a child with special needs but we ended up getting 2, instead of 1, which we are really blessed with our 2 boys!! And that was God’s plans for us to have our 2 boys with special needs; and we wouldn’t change that…Once again Congratulations on your new bundle of joy!!! Plus thanks a bunch of letting all of us hearing your new bundle of joys heart beats….And you know that Noah will be a very super Great Big Brother, many blessings to all of you!!
Congratulations to all of you! Noah is going to have so much fun being a big brother. Sibling love is very special.
Thanks! We can’t wait!
Not sure why but I was soooo excited by this announcement that I actually gasped. Not to alarm you but in the picture of the ultrasound I’m pretty sure I saw the face of a panda. They are adorable and the best zoos in the world are trying to increase the panda population so very good job indeed. Seriously, congrats all around and thank you for doing such a great job making Ds a big deal for all the right reasons!!!
hahahah..A Panda! Now, THAT’S funny! We’ve already had one surprising baby delivery, but I don’t know what I would do if a panda came out of my wife’s body! But one this is for sure “PandasDad.com” would BLOW UP!
Congratulations!. The latests smith is already lucky enough to make it to a very special family. Please send my bests to your wife and my wishes for a happy, healthy and stress-free pregnancy.
I don’t believe in god, but I believe in love. Happy to see kids like Noah growing surrounded by love 🙂
Take care
Thanks for the comment. It would be hard to believe in love, and not God, since God is love. Just out of curiosity, how can you watch a video like the one above and not believe in God? Who do you think causes a little heart to develop out of cells, then at some point in that development it just turns on and doesn’t stop until (hopefully) 90 years or so later? There’s no battery, no on/off switch, it just begins to work..it’s amazing.
I had a child 7 yrs after my daughter with DS was born and I was offered all the tests too but decided not to get them like you did.
I had the tests done with my 1st child and everything came back normal and I wasn’t in a risk factor age. We didn’t know she had DS until she was about 12 hours old. She didn’t have the typical look of a child with DS when she came out.
My 2nd child was born without any problems and with her I was at a risk age…ironic isn’t it? I’m glad I chose not to do any special tests. It wouldn’t have mattered what the results would have been, we wouldn’t have done anything different. We trusted in God too and still do. My daughter with DS has survived 3 life-threatening illnesses all before age 4 and has continued to defy the odds and I know it all has to do with God and the power of prayer. I congratulate you on your news. I pray all goes well during the pregnancy and that this child is born healthy. This child will be born to a great family and Noah will be an awesome big brother. Good Luck and God bless.
“We trusted in God too and still do.” A very wise comment!
Noah will be an awesome Big Brother. When will his brother or sister be here?
Thanks! We think so too. The due date is the first week of March! We are excited.
Congratulations! I never had any prenatal testing done. As a nurse I new the statistics about how often they could be wrong and decided ahead of time that A) they wouldn’t change anything, and B) I didn’t need the added stress of worrying about test results. I am so glad that you are trusting God in this. It is so true that He has a plan! Many blessings to you all!
You sound like one smart nurse! Thanks for your comment and your kind words.
How many children do you have by the way?
It is a pleasure to read your blog. Thank you for the great insight and wisdom. God bless you, Noah’s mom, Noah and baby! Looking forward to all the wonderful updates.
Thanks for your comment and your kind words!
Thank you for saying that Noah IS a big brother! How true! I know it’s just semantics to some people but am slightly annoyed when a woman is pregnant and they announce they are GOING TO BE parents! If she’s pregnant, they already are! 🙂
Amen!
haha! I mentioned that to Abbie a couple of years ago on what would you do with the blog name. Maybe you can rename it Noah’s family…? You will think of something! Congrats to you guys!..:)
LOL..! I think we’ll just keep it as is…and maybe add an asterisk to Noah’s name. We’re in way to deep to change it now! 🙂 Anyways, I’m sure by the time our next child is old enough to understand our website name, the web will be something totally different!
congratulations!!!! i love when i read the part about{{I’m not against prenatal testing if it’s used to help a parent prepare for any surprises in advance, and not for checking to see if a child is worthy to born}} its so true i have a 4 year old daughter and a 4 month old lil boy Jack was born with ds we were not aware of it he has a couple different health concern’s we are planning on having another getting pregnant again when jack is 18 months old we were very undecided on if we would get the testing but after reading that i just clicked in my head that i don’t think i want to get it. did you and your wife go threw genetic testing we still have not to see if we are carriers.
xoxo
Thanks for the kind words! You sound like a great mom!
And no, we did not have any genetic testing after Noah was born as he did not have translocation.
I came across your site thru a friend on facebook who has a child with ds. Your comments so moved me, and your son is totally Adorable!
I love the scan pic of your little ‘kidney bean’, and totally thrilled for you.
Its amazing how we can get so excited for a total stranger – the power of the internet!
Wishing you and your family much love xxx
Thanks so much for the comment, and for your kind words! We are so excited and can’t wait to meet this little boy (or girl) out of the womb!! 🙂
Congratulations to you all, look forward to meeting little miss or master Smith
I love to hear of your brave-hearted little kids!
CONGRATULATIONS!!! I’m so excited for your entire family! What a blessing! I have 2 boys (18 mo old w/o DS & 8 week old w/DS) and I’m already wanting another child. I just turned 39 and they (fertility docs) make me feel so old when I discuss having another. 🙁
I’ll keep praying about it and let God lead the way. I’ll say a few prayers for your family as well. I wish your wife a blessed pregnancy and delivery! 🙂
CONGRATULATIONS!! My daughter gave birth on June 23rd to our beautiful new grandson Emmett. He joins his “PERFECT” big sister Callie who is 21 months and yes she was born with down syndrome. I know it was trying sometimes for my daughter and her husband when she was carrying Emmett. They did not have any testing done with either one because they too would not have changed anything. God did make them both perfect because he doesn’t make mistakes. Grandma and Grandpa couldn’t be prouder. I love spending time with them and watching them change and grow. Callie is doing AMAZING and I know she will touch so many lives just as she has ours.
I have enjoyed checking out Noah’s site from time to time and will continue to do so and watch for blessing number 2. He is a handsome guy! Thank you for sharing.
Congratulations!
I have 7 children ages 14-30. I never did prenatal testing for the same reasons you sited here. It wasn’t going to change anything and I knew there was a high risk of false-positive and that was just going to cause unnecessary stress.
Keep the faith!
Awesome! Thanks for the comment.
Congratulations!!! I’m so excited to meet Noah’s new sibling. I can’t wait. Noah is going to be a great brother. I myself can’t wait to have another baby. I just had Chace he is 7 weeks old and he was diagnose with Ds when I was 29 weeks pregnant. I don’t think I want any testing done the second time around it was very stressful and I got depress. I just want to thank you for your blog it help me thru a dark time and it help me see the light. Once my son was born it was love at first sight and all those fears vanish. God had a different plan than I had and to tell you the truth I’m bless. My son Chace is going for heart surgery in a few weeks say a prayer for my little man. Again thank you and congrats.
Congratulations!! Always exciting news! We have a child with a deletion on his 13th chromosome. When we found out we were having another baby we decided to go with parental testing. A simple blood draw. That came back good so we didn’t opt for anything else. We wanted to be prepared and have the advantage of knowing ahead of time for the purpose of being more proactive with therapy. We didn’t have a diagnosis for a few years. It would have helped.
Congrats on the new baby.god bless the happy family…
Thanks for the kind words! Do you have any children..? Any with Down syndrome / special needs?
Congrats Rick, my husband and I are your Facebook stalkers. We have a 3 month old perfect baby girl (Ava) that has DS, she’s our first and we are 27 years old. We found out at 20 weeks because I did have AFP testing done due to my husband having 2 aunts with hydrocephalus. After experiencing the great joy a baby brings, Im excited to start trying for another baby in a year or more 🙂 It is kind of scary though when your odds were so low before and then your odds with a 2nd is even higher. How did you reason with yourself to have another? I would guess you probably did what we plan to do and give it all to God. Life is crazy, right?! But oh so good!
His plans are greater than ours!
Thanks for your comment Miranda.
I’m not sure I understand your question. You ask how we reasoned with ourself to have another child. Why do you think we would have to reason with ourself to have a second child?
In regards to odds, I”m not a huge fan of them no matter what we’re referring to. God is sovereign, which means everything that happens is for His glory and our good, so we try not to worry about the little things in life.
But in regards to having a second child, there’s nothing we had to reason with ourself about. We love Noah, and wouldn’t change one thing aobut him. We would take a 100 more of him. 🙂
I agree! I love my Ava, and would take more of her, and you’re so right about “odds” God is sovereign, He has the ultimate say. Thanks for putting that into perspective for me.
I needed that! I knew it but needed it! 🙂