~So our little monkey, as we will lovingly call him here, knows very few words. Due to ear infections early on our "little"(I emphasize little because he weighs as much as Princess who is 3 1/2) 17 month old can say about 8 words, there may be more but these are the ones we hear most often. Let's see there is "uice" for Juice, "Nattie" for Daddy, "Nonnie" for Mommy, "Ah din" for all done, "Peassse" for Please, "Uh-Oh" he's got that pretty well pegged, and "No" or as he likes to say it, three times in a row like we say it to him "No, No, No". We are tickled pink with all of his "words". Even if we are trying to put him to bed and he says "No!".
~Why is this you ask. Well when I had my first ultrasound we found out a few scary things. My husband was on his way home from a TDY (temporary duty) and the doctor called to tell me our son would have Down Syndrome. No the Dr. did not ask me to come in to talk, he asked me if I was sitting down and then proceeded to tell me over a telephone conversation my bouncing baby boy was going to be sick. I was devastated.
~He then told me the reasons. Our son appeared to have a hole in his heart, the measurement of the back of his neck was too thick, and a shorter than normal femur. He told us we would have to come in for another ultrasound. OK. So what can we do? We went and again he told us these things except now he was telling us there was 1/5 shot he would have Down Syndrome. OK we can work with this I thought that means 4/5 chance he does NOT have it. Plus my husband has a thick neck. So after the Dr. reviewed our options with us: 1: Amniocentesis, which could lead to a miscarriage and still may not be 100% accurate 2: Abortion, we 100% said no as soon as it came out of the mans mouth 3: Just wait and see and monitor him through more ultra sounds. We chose option #3 and I started praying!
~So as our little monkey grew (and so did I). We read up on Down Syndrome. We knew no matter how sick or handicapped our baby would be we would still love him for he was Gods child, a GIFT to us. It was NOT easy going to the ultra sounds. Finding out from the Cardiologist, yes he indeed have a whole in his heart. Our friends and family were supportive. In fact we asked our families how they felt about our situation. Response (well as I type this I am crying), he is their grandson of course they would love him =).
~THE BIG DAY! My Mom had all ready arrived to help out with Princess. So where was our baby boy? Snug as a bug inside of me! He was a week overdue so we decided to go ahead and induce labor...YAY! Well....our baby Boy was born 9lbs 11oz! After many tests, pocking and prodding, monitoring his heart guess who did NOT have Down Syndrome?!! That's right, our little monkey! He did have a tiny whole in his heart (1mm to be exact). The doctors were also concerned about the way his ears turned after he was born (babies born with down syndrome may have ears that turn down) his were turning up but it was still a concern. But guess what? He was just fine! I mean the heart issue was a little concerning but a lot of people are born with that defect and may never know it. GOD IS SO GOOD!
~So now you know why the word "NO" is so good to hear. It will not always give us warm fuzzies as it does now for us (like when he is a teenager), but we will enjoy our toddler and his attempt at communication as long as possible!
From My Hart to Yours,
Erin
God's precious GIFT!
So Big!
