My baby has Down syndrome. Let me tell you why I am not happy.

My experience

I wanted to write a blog post about my very tough pregnancy, diagnosis journey and birth, but honestly, I am still learning how to do this mom thing! I’ll keep it short and write posts as the thoughts come to me.

This month is Down syndrome awareness month and my goal was to write a new blog post every week to shed light on the condition, but I just couldn’t keep up. Exhaustion as a new parent is a level of exhaustion I never knew existed. So is love and the love I have experienced as a new mother is something I can’t quite put into words, but I’ll try.

His diagnosis

When we got the news that our baby would be born with Down syndrome, it was jarring. We were surprised, sad, confused and worried. We felt these things not because we didn’t want a baby with Down syndrome, but because we worried about the life he would have. How people would treat him and whether he be offered the same opportunities as other children.

We never once considered terminating the pregnancy and it was brought up several times by medical providers. Even after he was born, medical providers would whisper his diagnosis to us, as if we didn’t know or would be upset somehow. The fact is, we loved our son the moment we found out we were pregnant. Before we knew his gender, before we saw him on an ultrasound, before he was even considered a fetus.

Every day we try to learn as much as we can about his diagnosis, but more so, we learn everything we can about being a parent to a child. We want him to be loving, kind, inclusive, compassionate and joyful. We want to make sure we are able to give him all the opportunities that are available to him and enforce the idea that he can do anything he puts his mind to.

Why I am not happy:

I am not happy that he may be judged, he may be called the R word, he may be turned away from certain situations because he has Down syndrome.
I am not happy that there may be a time that he feels sad that he’s treated differently, that he may feel frustrated that some people may think he can’t do what other kids can do, that he may feel that other kids don’t like him because of his condition.
I am not happy that there is still a stigma around people with Down syndrome being less intelligent, being always happy, being unemployable, being unable to have relationships.
I am not happy that some educators still want to segregate children with special needs in schools because they are afraid to “bring down the rest of the class”.
I am not happy that I have to correct those around me from calling him a Downs baby, a Downsie, a Down syndrome baby because he is not a label, he is a person with a condition.

I am overjoyed to be his mother, his comfort, his source of security, his source of nourishment and his advocate. I will always fight for him.

His diagnosis is not who he is. It does not define him and his abilities. He’s an amazing little human who I fall in love with more and more every single day who happens to have a condition called Down syndrome.

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Disclaimer: Sweet Honeybee Health and it’s owners are not medical professionals. Content on this website is intended for informational purposes only. I research and write on numerous health topics and companies. Do not use the information you find on this site as medical advice. You are encouraged to seek the advice of a medical professional prior to trying any health remedy, no matter how safe or risk-free it may claim to be.

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