Chewymom

I have heard that comment from people who want to justify terminating a pregnancy when they learn that the baby they are carrying has an extra chromosome. What about my other children? It isn’t fair to them. It will take time away from them. Someday they will have to care for this child.

Folks, this is simply not true. If you were to weigh the positive impact of having a sibling up against these negatives, the positives would win, hands down. What are some things I see in my children as a result of having a child with Down syndrome?

Well, for starters, my other children know how to be around people with Down syndrome, and other special needs! This is something I have had to learn–still am learning! I did not grow up around people with special needs. Even after I had DS16, and people assumed I would know what to say and how to act, I still did not. DS16 was a baby, a toddler, a child–and I just was unsure. Do I approach someone with special needs? Does that young adult with Down syndrome even know that he has it? What do I do when I meet someone with Down syndrome–do I hug him? Do I shake her hand? Do I assume she can carry on a conversation?

This is still a point of awkwardness for me, and I am learning from my son and his peers every day. This is not awkward for my other children, however. They instinctively know how to relate to people with special needs–how to talk to them, what body language to give.

I will leave it there for now, because I really need to be studying for my Microbiology exam on Thursday. This week, however, I hope to write about each of my other children individually and tell you how having a sibling with Down syndrome has affected and impacted their lives.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 8th, 2007 at 4:52 pm and is filed under Down syndrome. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.