I’ve got to be honest. I would have never guessed in a million years that when Abbie and I made the trip to the hospital to deliver Noah we’d be brining home a little boy with Down syndrome.
As you can read in Noah’s birth story, we had no idea Noah had Down syndrome until about four hours after he was born. As new parents to a child with Down syndrome we quickly learned all we could about Down syndrome.
We Quickly Became “Experts” on Down Syndrome
During the first few weeks we learned much about the physical characteristics of a child born with Down syndrome, the labs a child born with down syndrome has to endure, and some of the major medical concerns for a child born with Down syndrome.
We were quickly introduced to the many different physical, occupational, and feeding therapies we would soon be spending a lot of time at.
But above all of this we fell further in love.
Further in love with our new son.
Our first son.
A son that was born with Down syndrome.
Down Syndrome Isn’t As Scary As It Seems
At first Down syndrome seems scary. It isn’t. Seriously.
If you are a new parent of a child born with Down syndrome you may think it’s the scariest thing in the world.
You may be confused, sad, hurt, disappointed, unhappy, curious, happy, joyful, etc. You may feel like all of the emotions you are feeling will never go away.
They will. This May Be Our First Video, But It’s Certainly Not Our Last
In your head you always wonder what it will be like when you bring your first (or any) child through your front door. You dream about the day that you get to take all of those fun home videos. (Isn’t it odd how in our dreams we never dream about bringing home a child with Down syndrome?)
I wonder why…
Anyways, our life is great! God is way to good to us. We are so happy to be baby Noah’s parents, and we wouldn’t change one little chromosome about him. Seriously.
In fact we love him so much we want to share him with the world! We will be doing a daily one minute video to show the world that Down syndrome is ‘ok.’ Yes, everyday!
We hope that you will do us the honor by subscribing, liking Noah’s Dad Facebook page, and sharing our site with as many people as you can. We would ask that you would join with us in showing the world that Down syndrome is ok! 🙂
Did you have any surprises as a first time parent? Please feel free to share in the comments. I’d enjoy hearing your story.
About Rick Smith
Just stumbled upon your blog! This is great stuff! While we aren’t first time parents, our second child was born with epilepsy. We had no idea there was anything wrong until 36 hours into life. I had placenta previa and she was delivered at 36 weeks on the button via c-section. Outside of a bleed at 35 weeks 5 days, we had no other complications and thought everything was fine. Never did we realize we would spend 35 days in the NICU and have a baby who has special needs. We are currently 5 months seizure free, and it may be in remission for good! But we don’t know what happens until it does…if that makes sense!
Stumbled upon this and of course I can’t seem to leave here. I to have a son with Down Syndrome but I am not a first time parent. I have two older children, but when I had my third, I honestly didn’t know what to expect. When the doctor told me that my son has Down Syndrome, I couldn’t speak. I knew about Down Syndrome only from studying it in Health class in High School. For awhile I had a hard time not thinking that it was my fault, in fact that was all I could think about, even though I know it wasn’t. I did research, joined groups, went to the local County Building and got information and got his therapies all lined up. And of course he is a very bright healthy 4 yr old with only one small hole in his heart. And I am still learning along with him, but all in all he is an angel from heaven
“I have an extra chromosome, it’s no big deal” laughing out loud. this is all too cute.
I am not a first time parent, but my partner is and our son Zachary was born with down syndrome. We didn’t know until about a week after he was born and his blood work came back positive for Trisomy 21.
When I was about 36 weeks I had an ultrasound done because I was measuring big for how many weeks I was, but it was due to the position that Zachary was in at the time. Unfortunately, the doctor didn’t see the note attached to the bottom of the ultrasound saying that Zacharys humerus and femur bones were measuring small for his gestational age. She finally saw the note at about 38 weeks and called to tell us that his bones were measuring short for his age and that we needed to go to another hospital for a real time ultrasound to see what is going on. Of course I looked up short bones on the internet and saw that, that was a marker for Down Syndrome, but because the ultrasound tech. mentioned achondroplasia, I disregarded that and began to research achondroplasia. Our appointment at the other hospital was going to be on March 28th, but Zach wasn’t going to wait he came on March 27th. When he was born I looked at him and didn’t see any short bones and the doctor said I don’t see anything wrong he looks great. He was 8lbs and 19 1/4 inches long and was absolutely gorgeous. Then the next morning when his doctor came in (she is also my doc.) she said she was going to send out some blood, to test for Down Syndrome, but that she really doesn’t think he has it because there were no other signs other than the creases on his eyes. So I said okay and then looked (I work and am a home care provider for a woman with Down Syndrome) and looked and just couldn’t see it. I would ask the nurses and family members that came in what they thought and they couldn’t “see” it either and when it came time to leave the hospital the doctor that checked us out said the same. “I see why your doctor sent out the blood work but I really don’t think he has it, there are no other indicators”. So we went home with our beautiful son, to wait for the call about his blood work, which would take about a week due to it having to be sent out.
Needless to say when I got the call about a week late,r we got the news. I was devastated. Not really due to the diagnosis, but because I was so worried about who would take care of my perfect little boy when I no longer could.
Then came the hurried appointments to check all the things that could be wrong, his heart, his eyes, his blood, his hearing etc. We were so happy that all those things up to this point ( 2 and a half months old) are perfectly fine.
Once the panic that something could be wrong passed, the enjoyment of every second of every day set in. Zachary has an older brother and sister who absolutely adore him, not to mention the many family members and friends who dote on him endlessly. He started occupational therapy at about 5 weeks and is so strong that I am just amazed by him everyday when I “play” with him. He is such a happy boy whose smile is infectious, and takes the heart of everyone he meets. I could not imagine my life without him. My only hopes and dreams for not only Zach, but for my other children is to live life to the fullest, be happy and have kindness towards others, because you just never know what life is going to throw at you and if you have a good caring heart you will be able to get through anything. That is our story or should I say just the beginning of it. 🙂
Thank you for sharing your story and Noahs!!