31 for 21: Day 2 If I Had Only Known......

i will never forget the day that our obstetrician (and friend) told us of her suspicion that wyatt might have Down syndrome.   we were SHOCKED.....why?  because we had ASKED that question of our pediatrician, and he had answered "no," he didn't think wyatt had Down syndrome.   yet the very next day we were confronted with this diagnosis that we thought was already settled....

oh if i had only known then what i know now......maybe i would not have cried and cried and cried some more, until i was completely cried out....  maybe i would not have been so terrified about the future....  maybe i would have been able to enjoy our new baby a lot more, had i not been so stressed about the great unknown (at the time) of "Down syndrome...."    but of course hindsight is 20-20 as they say....

i can now tell someone who has a new baby with Down syndrome what a joy that baby will be to them.  i can now tell a young woman with a prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome that the road ahead may have challenges, but to enjoy her baby as a baby first....not just as a baby with Down syndrome!   i can share the joys that wyatt has brought to us and to so many others!  i can share my mom saying "we never knew what love was until we had him (wyatt)...."   i can share the great pride we do take in the "little things" that wyatt does....  

with our older boys we took so much for granted!   but not with wyatt!   we ALL rejoice in every milestone that he reaches...IN HIS TIME!!!    and what a special gift it has been to see our older boys love wyatt, help him, teach him.....in so many ways so many things!  

i'm so glad that God knew better than we did exactly what we needed!  we certainly did not think that we needed any other children, but God knew better!   and i can now say, along with my friends, "i never knew i wanted a child with Down syndrome until i had one....."