Down Syndrome Awareness Month: Day #1 Diagnosis

Down Syndrome Awareness Month: Day #1 Diagnosis

I decided to do a series during Down Syndrome Awareness month from diagnosis till now. So here is part 1. Down Syndrome Awareness Month: Day #1 Diagnosis

Expecting

I was 23 when I found out I was expecting. My husband and I had only been dating for less than a year so it was news to us. When I took the test I was extremely nervous, I had just graduated from college and had barely figured out what I was going to be doing with my life. But there I sat and saw those 2 little pink lines show up that would forever change my life.
I told my husband (then boyfriend) and a week later we got confirmation. Sept 4th, 2013 we were in the parking lot of the doctor’s office he picked me up, spun me around, and with a big smile on his face said “we are having a baby” and I got even more excited to share this moment with him.

The Concerning Ultrasound

Fast forward to week 12 we went in for a routine ultrasound and the tech said “there is a little extra here on their neck” (before we found out her gender) “not to worry though we just want to run some extra tests”. Okay no big deal my Mother in Law said “oh he had this also its nothing to worry about”

So I went in got the bloodwork done and thought nothing of it. Until we got the results…

Diagnosis

I got a call while I was at work from the Doctors office can you please give us a callback. Hurried up went to the break room to call the office and that is when I got the news. “Hey so the tests came back, the baby has a 99% chance of having Down Syndrome. Let’s schedule you an appointment to meet with the doctor”. They said that so nonchalantly that it took me a second to process what was said.

I was in shock, but unfortunately, I didn’t have time to be that way I was still on the clock. I worked at electronics at Walmart at the time, so I went back on the floor to work.

Then everything hit me. I texted my husband, my mom, my dad, and my mother in law to tell them the news. I ended up crying, everyone asked what was wrong, which I then said what the call was about. Everyone tried to cheer me up saying ‘those tests are not always accurate, I know so and so and they know someone with Down Syndrome and they are fine’, all this helped me make it through the rest of the workday.

The Doctor’s Appointment

So we went to the doctor’s appointment. They brought us in and sat us down. I am going to give you the cliff notes version of what was said. The doctor looked at us and said it is a girl. The baby has Down Syndrome, as you may know, they have a lot of health issues and don’t amount to much. So you have 3 options,
1. we can get you scheduled for an… (I hate this part) …abortion,
2. you can get an amnio to confirm which may result in miscarriage or early labor, or
0 3. you can go along with the pregnancy as is and see what happens.

Our Thoughts

I looked at my husband. We both knew that no matter what that was our daughter and nothing was going to change that. Even if we were scared 1st-time parents. We went with option 3 of course and never gave it another thought.

So their ya go that is our diagnosis story…follow along for more of raising our little dragonfly.

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A little Dragonfly’s Journey with Down Syndrome Ellas’ Story

Also If you want to see a previous post about what the doctors failed to tell me about having Ella read here:
What the Doctors Never told me