My thoughts on Down syndrome

Hi, my name is Linda Mackey. I'm a mother of two and a stay-at-home mom. When we heard the news that our second child might have a chromosomal abnormality, we were devastated. It wasn't for sure what it was until the pregnancy progressed. Every symptom pointed towards Down Syndrome. It was a 50/50 chance. We held on to that 50% chance for the longest time. I, for one, held on to it even after my second child was born. It wasn't until the test results came back positive. Honestly, even then, it took me a while to accept it. But as our child grew, it became apparent to me that she is no different than my older child. In fact, they have so much similarities I can now look past her diagnosis. This isn't to say that there aren't any challenges along the way, I mean, which one of us doesn't have any? We all have our own limitations, our own weaknesses and our own challenges in life. We deal with them and when we can we try to overcome them!

Parenting a child with Down syndrome isn't significantly different than parenting any child, in my opinion. Then again, I haven't gone through the bigger hurdles yet that parents with older Ds kids had gone through. So this will be a very interesting journey for me and my family. But you know, my thoughts are these: that it's not so much on how different they are but on how similar they are to any typical child. And for those families less familiar with the condition, I'd like for them to have the opportunity to understand it or even ask questions about it without being intimidated. There's quite a lot of blogs about Ds and kids with Ds. I can name one on top of my head. The great thing about all these is the sharing aspect of information. We're all in this together.

This blog is not to tell my daughter's story (well, I guess in some ways I would) but more so, to share my insights and thoughts about Down syndrome. I would like to invite everyone who stumbles upon this blog to do the same by leaving comments after reading my blogs. You also don't have to have a child with Ds to share your thoughts or know someone with Ds to leave a comment. Everyone is welcome and invited to share! Pass it on!