{"id":68569,"date":"2014-02-18T15:09:29","date_gmt":"2014-02-18T20:09:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/syracuse\/?p=68569"},"modified":"2014-02-18T15:09:29","modified_gmt":"2014-02-18T20:09:29","slug":"downsyndrome","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/syracuse\/uncategorized\/downsyndrome","title":{"rendered":"I don’t remember the day when I realized that I no longer was upset about this………."},"content":{"rendered":"

Here at the Playhouse we LOVE to hear your stories. They are all important. \u00a0When you share your reality you make is ok for other moms and dads to feel what they are feeling without guilt. We could all use a little less of that, right? \u00a0Today we have a pretty amazing story from a new friend Alyssa. Her families story is like so many here but with one pretty amazing twist….read on.<\/p>\n

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I remember during both my pregnancies the Dr asking me if we wanted to do the nuechal translucency screening for genetic markers.\u00a0 Did we?\u00a0 Once I was told there were extra ultrasounds involved, I was in!\u00a0 Solely for the purpose of seeing that little bean wiggling around on the screen and that fluttering heartbeat.\u00a0 I mean, obviously I wasn’t going to have a child with Down syndrome, or the like.
\nEverything with my pregnancy with Brennan was so different than with Ellie.\u00a0 I remember being told all pregnancies were different, this was the opposite.\u00a0 I knew from conception he was a boy, and while his sister always measured right on track, he was consistently a peanut measuring a couple weeks behind.\u00a0 I’ll never forget the morning of my c-section sitting there before the surgery and talking with the staff.\u00a0 “Oh it’s a boy?”\u00a0 “And it’s your 2nd?”\u00a0 “I bet he’s big, at least 8lbs”. Really?\u00a0 I was shocked, I just figured he’d be small.\u00a0 I was right, all 6 lbs & 13 oz of squishiness!\u00a0 And cute, too boot!
\nThe first 9 months were filled with so much love, lots of snuggles, smiles, lots of squishy rolls & fun.\u00a0 He was hitting all of his milestones, nursing like a champ, and was the happiest child ever.\u00a0 At his 9 month well check the pediatrician mentioned some concern on his low muscle tone.\u00a0 I heard early intervention and started to tear up.\u00a0 Did I hold him too much?\u00a0 Was this my fault?\u00a0 I knew I should have let him be more independent.\u00a0 Typical parent guilt.\u00a0 So EI came, and he barely qualified for the once a week PT.
\nThe next 3 months were interesting watching his core build and building a wonderful relationship with his therapist.\u00a0 We had an awesome 1st birthday party that July, whale themed, he loved his cupcake!\u00a0 2 days later my sister, who was visiting from Maine for the special birthday, pulled me outside my parents home to talk to me about something.\u00a0 Immediately, I knew this was not going to go well.\u00a0 She explained that a family friend, a nurse, had casually asked my aunt if we had ever done genetic testing on Brennan.\u00a0 This friend had spent some time snuggling my baby a month or so prior, and saw some significant markers for Down syndrome.\u00a0 What?!\u00a0 This is my child, obviously I’d know if he had this.\u00a0 I was angry, and hurt.\u00a0 My sister cried, and told me repeatedly that she loved me and she was sorry.\u00a0 I went straight to the pediatrician, she ordered the test, and I took him Tuesday afternoon.\u00a0 Monday, July 22nd, 7 years to the day that Mark asked me to be his wife, we got our T21 diagnosis.\u00a0 I just remember hearing the pediatricians voice shaking, and her telling me to sit down.\u00a0 She asked if I had someone with me.\u00a0 I said “are you kidding me? Nooooooo.”\u00a0 We talked for at least 20 minutes, and I have zero clue what was said.\u00a0 There were millions of tears, and a million more questions.\u00a0 But, there was a lesson, it would take me some time to find it, but it was there.\u00a0 It was the universes way of telling me to take a deep breath, slow down & savor the moments.
\nIt’s been 7 months since I got that phone call.\u00a0 I remember that day so well, I thought it was the worst day of my life.\u00a0 I was so mad this was happening to me, to us, to my sweet Brennan.\u00a0 That awful ‘r’ word was racing around my mind, he was going to get picked on, his sister would get picked on, how do people say this is a positive thing?!\u00a0 I hated hearing that I was lucky.\u00a0\u00a0 They’re only saying this, I thought, because they weren’t dealt this hand.\u00a0 Then I calmed down.\u00a0 I let people in, listened to stories, met some new people.
\nI don’t remember the day when I realized that I no longer was upset about this.\u00a0 Was it a week later?\u00a0 A month?\u00a0 I couldn’t tell you, because I stopped caring about timelines and specifics, and enjoyed life.\u00a0 Watching my children become best friends, seeing my husband be an even more amazing father\/partner, and accepting the incredible support and love we have.
\nHaving a child with Down syndrome is not a positive thing, it is an awesome gift!\u00a0 I feel honored that we were chosen for this, and we are now part of a super exclusive club, that not just anyone can join.<\/h2>\n

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Thank you so much Alyssa for sharing with us today! \u00a0We look forward \u00a0to having you here in this space in the near future.<\/p>\n

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

Here at the Playhouse we LOVE to hear your stories. They are all important. \u00a0When you share your reality you make is ok for other moms and dads to feel what they are feeling without guilt. We could all use a little less of that, right? \u00a0Today we have a pretty amazing story from a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-68569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/syracuse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/syracuse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/syracuse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/syracuse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/syracuse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68569"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/syracuse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68569\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/syracuse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/syracuse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/syracuse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}