Down Syndrome

[Jonathan27]

We recently found out that our (as yet unborn) son has Down Syndrome. It’s made for a tough few weeks, but now there are just two things on my mind;

1- I can’t wait to meet the little guy
2- What is it really going to be like.

I’ve read a few books and what seems like a million web sites, but they all give me the medical angle or the worst case scenario. So the way I see it is PH seems to know pretty much everything I’ve ever been curious about, so why not ask PH.

Do any you have a child with DS? What’s life really like? What do I need to prepare myself for? Frankly anything you can say will help.

Thanks

[Jonathan27]

Thanks for all your replies. We’ve had a few extra scans and so far he seems to be doing well. The specialist at Great Ormond Street felt that the heart looked good, that was our biggest concern so we both feel a whole lot better now. Also we had another scan at our local hospital and everything seemed fine.
It is the associated conditions that cause us the most concern, not the Downs itself.

I know that living with Downs brings challenges, but also brings huge rewards as with any other child. But I have just had no exposure to Downs before so I have an amazing lack of knowledge on the subject.

I’ve taken the advise and contacted the Downs Syndrome Society and will look to try to connect to other parents in our area. As I said before, I just want to meet the little guy now, and get on with things, rather than spend everyday worrying about the unknown.

[Jonathan27]

Oh, and I forgot to say. Thanks very much for the congratulations. With my previous two children everyone congratulated us and it seemed normal. Now with the little guy everyone either says ‘oh sorry’ or ‘they’re such happy people’. I honestly don’t know which of these annoys me the most!

[Jonathan27]

I wanted to come back and provide an update, so here it is.

Just like Matt said, our son came early (three weeks for us also). He has a few health challenges, but we couldn’t be happier, and we are confident that he will be fine. Hearing peoples tales of things progressing slowly but well has helped us to realise that everything can work out. Huge sections of the internet are just horror stories, but it was great to hear of people having fairly normal lives. So thank you all.