The choice and the result

   When a couple makes the decision to stop being careful, and to start trying to conceive a child, they never think that the child they will be blessed with will be anything less than perfect. They don't stop and wonder, at least not if they haven't had problems in the past, if they are going to have a child with Down Syndrome, or Trisomy 17, or a cleft palette, or whatever. You start the process, and go through the pregnancy expecting the end result to be a healthy, happy baby with full motor skills and full mental capacity. You don't worry until you have cause to worry. That was the case with us. Even though Ashley had a miscarriage about a year prior, the thought never crossed our minds that our baby wouldn't be like most babies. The truth is though, that when you choose to conceive that life you never know what you are going to get, and you are promising to love your baby regardless of how perfect or imperfect your little guy is.
   I guess if the right tests had been done we could have detected this before he was born, but to be honest, I'm glad the right tests weren't done. We had 9 months during the pregnancy where we didn't have to worry about how this chromosomal disorder might affect him, and another 4 months after that. That's 13 months that we got to enjoy little man worry free. Sure, that gave us 13 months to wonder if he'd be a doctor, or a lawyer, or an engineer. 13 months to build great expectations, only to find out that he will likely face great challenges just to learn to read and write and talk and walk and understand the world around him. My understanding so far is that the impact it has on children is highly variable, so maybe he'll fare better than most children, but how much it will affect him is yet to be seen. It does seem almost inevitable that he will at least face great learning disabilities. Maybe if we had found out sooner we would have had more time to prepare for this reality, but I wouldn't trade those worry free months for anything. 13 months of worry free time enjoying your baby is priceless. We still know early, and maybe with early intervention we can minimize how much this affects him, but I wouldn't give up those 13 months of not knowing for anything. He's still our Joey, he's still awesome, I still believe that regardless of the challenges he, and we face, our lives are better, our lives are blessed for having him here.

3 weeks old and already plotting to take over the world, or at least the house!