a baby is such a blessing....you hear it all the time, you read it on greeting cards....just about everybody loves a baby! we love babies....and we were surprised to be blessed with a baby in our "older" years! very surprised indeed! i've posted about wyatt's birth in the march 18th post "our bonus baby story" if you're interested.
we did not have a prenatal diagnosis, and we therefore were not prepared for wyatt's diagnosis of Down syndrome. we received the confirmed diagnosis 2 weeks after his birth, once our pediatrician received the results of his karyotype. by that time, we were pretty certain that the dr's suspicions were correct....we'd had 2 weeks to pray, love, cry, pray more, enjoy, research, mourn....such a vast array of emotions post-delivery (as if childbirth was not enough!) ... but it was still hard....
all that to say that recently one of my mom's best friends was visiting me and wyatt, and she said "you know, not that it's a good thing that wyatt was born with Down syndrome, but it's the best thing that could have happened for your parents." i know what she was trying to say, although i initially took a little offense, and she's right about it being so great for my parents.
they are older and were of course, maybe even more shocked with wyatt's diagnosis than we were. it's a shame their generation has such a different perception of Down syndrome. i've actually been told that we had a local pediatrician who institutionalized his own child with Down syndrome 30+ years ago. how sad that his own personal decision probably impacted a lot of parents of children with Ds. i know of one local family, whose son is now 32, to whom this particular doctor recommended institutionalization.....so sad. i'm so glad that this couple, even in their complete ignorance about Ds (they knew nothing...had never even heard of it!) responded that their son was not a puppy, and they were not going to put him away.....they would take him home and love him....
my parents have enjoyed wyatt so very much! again today, i wish i'd had my camera or video camera to capture my dad's playing with wyatt! it's a beautiful thing to see the love of grandparents for their grandchildren displayed so openly! mom works on animal sounds with him constantly....today he was "mooing" and "oinking"! they both help him walk a lot; sing nursery rhymes with hand motions, etc.
i am so blessed and thankful that God opened up this whole new world of Down syndrome to us. wyatt is so joy-filled! he laughs and loves so easily! he has brought great joy to so many people....friends, family and to complete strangers as well! he's stubborn and hard-headed too...but in such a cute way! we indeed are tremendously blessed!
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