{"id":141851,"date":"2025-12-15T06:45:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-15T12:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/rockford\/?p=141851"},"modified":"2026-01-08T11:55:30","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T17:55:30","slug":"welcome-home-brielle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/rockford\/uncategorized\/welcome-home-brielle","title":{"rendered":"Welcome home, Brielle!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

“Brielle was born on June 1st<\/sup>\u00a0of this year. Her due date was August 9th<\/sup>. Like her mother, patience just wasn\u2019t one of her strengths, but make no mistake \u2013 this tyke is a fighter. Since she arrived 10\u00a0weeks early, Brielle presented a myriad of health complexities,\u00a0including Down syndrome, a duodenal web restriction, and a congenital heart\u00a0defect (atrioventricular septal defect).\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We all have attributes that make us unique, and at GiGi\u2019s Playhouse, one of those attributes is celebrated: Down Syndrome. Increasing awareness about DS is on the rise, but still has a long journey ahead. People who are too dissimilar from us can trigger discomfort, uncertainty, or even fear. We had never encountered someone with DS before. I was uncertain and even afraid of people with special needs since they often appeared fragile and unpredictable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But now? After 164 days in the NICU, awaiting the day we could hold our sweet baby in our arms without wires and beeping machines\u2026we\u00a0finally\u00a0have our\u00a0first child home and are a family of three. Now there is no\u00a0fear, just joy. Brielle is more like any other baby than different, and learning that was an important part of our journey. Uncertainty of the future exists for all of us, not just for those with Down syndrome. We will continue the fight for awareness and gather allies from far and wide.”\u00a0-Arial <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are honored to be a pillar of support for this family every step of the way. At GiGi\u2019s Playhouse Rockford, being part of their village is a privilege we never take lightly. Thank you to Brielle’s mom and dad, Arial and Gregg, for sharing these words with us. Welcome home, Brielle!  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Brielle was born on June 1st\u00a0of this year. Her due date was August 9th. Like her mother, patience just wasn\u2019t one of her strengths, but make no mistake \u2013 this tyke is a fighter. Since she arrived 10\u00a0weeks early, Brielle presented a myriad of health complexities,\u00a0including Down syndrome, a duodenal web restriction, and a congenital…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-141851","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/rockford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141851","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/rockford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/rockford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/rockford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/62"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/rockford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=141851"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/rockford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141851\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/rockford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=141851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/rockford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=141851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/rockford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=141851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}