 
I’d Choose You, Again and Again. Our Down Syndrome Story.
Hello, Friends, Family and Lovely Readers.
We’ve had a lot going on in our lives in the past few months.
We found out I was Pregnant again in November, which was very exciting news but also a little scary because we lost a baby girl at 24 weeks a few years ago. We didn’t think we had it in us to try again but changed our minds and decided to give it a try. I got pregnant fairly quickly and everything was going wonderfully.
We decided to do genetic testing  this time around. I did a blood test (Quad Marker), at 16 weeks. The quad marker test  looks for increased chance of birth defects but does not allow the definitive diagnosis of any conditions. The next week we got a call from the Doctors saying that our test came back positive. Based on the results, we were given a 1 in 8 chance of Down Syndrome. We decided to do an amino to find out for sure. This is where we found out we’re having a boy. They also found 2 soft markers for Down Syndrome, a small white spot on his bowel and a smaller than usual nose bone.
A few days later we got a call from the specialist with our results. Our baby  boy does have Down Syndrome. The next few days were a blur of emotion and tears. My husband, who has been so wonderful through all of this, and I both knew we would love our little boy no matter what. Our son who is 8 is so excited to be a big brother.  It doesn’t matter to him one bit that his little brother is  a little bit different. He’ll love him the same way, maybe ever more.
After coming to terms with the fact that our baby has Down Syndrome, all the tears dried up, the sadness changed to worry. 50 % of babies with Downs Syndrome  have heart problems. These can be mild problems that fix themselves or they can be very serious issues that require open heart surgery. As well as heart problems, babies with down syndrome can have many other serious health issues. We then had to wait 3 weeks because his heart wasn’t developed enough to tell if there were any issues until 22 weeks.
Fast forward to 22 weeks pregnant. We went in for what will be our 4th ultrasound, fingers crossed that he has no major problems. We did the scan and they found no issues at all. This was the absolute best news. Our boy will face many challenges in his life but heart surgery won’t be one of them. They also found liquid in his tummy which means he is able to swallow, which is another very good sign.
The rest of the pregnancy goes smoothly, until the 38th weeks, were they discover that the placenta isn’t feeding him as well as it should be. He’s a little bit smaller than he should have been for a 38 weeker. We were put on a list for immediate induction. The next day we were admitted into the High Risk Labor ward. Elijah was born with no complications at 4:35 am weighing 5 lb 13 oz.
He’s an absolute Perfect Baby. He barely ever cries and is the cutest little thing you have ever seen. We love him so much, and would choose him again and again.
Life is Good.
Until next time.
Lyndsay
Follow Eli & Indy on Social Media