A week later, we received genetic confirmation that our sweet Jack has Downs Syndrome. As a speech pathologist, I have sometimes found myself giving parents news that would bring them grief. I felt sorry for them, but of course I couldn't directly relate. Now, I was the parent receiving that news. This diagnosis was not what we had expected. I cried hard those first few weeks. I cried for us, and I cried for him. My sweet baby boy. I didn't want him to struggle, or feel sad because he was different, or feel isolated from his peers. I didn't want others to look down on him, or think less of him, because of his intellectual disability or facial differences. Part of me still doesn't want him to ever grow up. I am afraid this is the only short time in his life in this world that he won't be considered impaired or delayed.
Still, I wonder how I will feel years from now as I read over this blog. I wonder how right and how wrong I will feel about these things that worry me now. I think, as my mom said, he will make a difference in the lives of his family members - in his mom and dad, aunts and uncles, and cousins, and perhaps even brothers or sisters, if God allows it. That people will better grasp the value of human life.
I love him so much. He is such a beautiful baby boy.
More pictures and videos to come...
