THE JACK SERIES 2/6: Christina, Mom

A phone call in the middle of my night changed my life forever. I worked nights as an ER RN, so my “night” was the middle of the day. My OB called and woke me up at 4 o’clock in the afternoon to tell me that my NIPT results were positive for Trisomy 21, and if I wanted further diagnostic testing I needed to come in ASAP due to the upcoming holidays. I cried through the CVS procedure and cried more after receiving the positive results a week later. I knew so little about Down Syndrome and was terrified I wouldn’t be the mom this baby needed me to be. This was already an unexpected pregnancy and would be baby #4. I felt overwhelmed and unworthy of this child. As the pregnancy progressed and I learned more about DS, I began to understand and accept that DS would just be one part of Jack–it would not define his entire person. With any child, you don’t necessarily know what type of exceptionalities they might have; we were fortunate enough to know something of Jack’s ahead of time! My husband and I were very reserved in announcing Jack’s diagnosis, mostly because we just didn’t want sympathy. We wanted our friends and family to celebrate Jack with us–and celebrate they did. We were met with nothing but pure joy every time we shared Jack's diagnosis. Now that Jack is here, he has already taught our family so much about love and his place in this world. I feel so much love and gratitude and thank God every day that I get to be Jack’s mom.

#TheLuckyFew #TheLuckyFewFoundation #DownSyndrome #ThisIsDownSyndrome