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Sunday, December 12, 2010
Thursday, September 16, 2010
The Day That Wouldn't End
A few hours after Cameron was born, we were visited by one of the NICU doctors. He told us that because Cameron had Down syndrome (blood tests were still needed to confirm) they wanted to look at her heart because heart defects are a common occurrence in babies with Down syndrome. They had done an Echo Cardiogram on Cameron and found that she did indeed have a heart defect which would require open heart surgery before she would turn 1 year old.
Ok, well THAT put quite a new perspective on the whole Down syndrome thing! Now our baby had a life threatening condition! Down syndrome didn't seem quite so bad now. I spoke to many parents later who faced the same thing we went through and their outlooks all were the opposite of ours. You can fix the heart but you can't fix Down syndrome. Neither Tony or I looked at our situation that way and I can't explain why. But I do know that Cameron's heart defect was really a blessing in disguise for us. It took the focus off the Down syndrome and put it on getting done what needed to get done in order to make sure Cameron's heart was repaired successfully.
Cameron stayed in the NICU at Sierra Vista Hospital in San Luis Obispo for 1 week. She came home on Friday, November 14th.
(I haven't quite figured out how to arrange these pictures in a nice orderly fashion)
Friday, September 3, 2010
The Day That Rocked Our World
I was 29 years old when I
gave birth to our first daughter, Courtney. It was an uneventful pregnancy. My doctor didn't do ultrasounds so we went through that pregnancy not knowing what we were having. I had the usual blood and urine tests, as well as the Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) test. The AFP test, usually performed at 15 to 18 weeks of pregnancy, was designed to look for babies with neural tube defects, such as an open spinal cord or brain. During this stage of pregnancy, the AFP levels of many women carrying babies with neural tube defects is higher than expected. The AFP test is also used to screen for Down syndrome. AFP levels tend to be lower than expected for women pregnant with a Down syndrome baby. All tests for my first pregnancy came back within normal ranges. Courtney was born on May 6, 1995. A very healthy, normal baby girl.
I was 31 years old when I gave birth to our second daughter, Cameron. The above is exactly what took place for my 2nd pregnancy. No ultrasound. All tests normal. We were well on our way to expanding our
perfect family. Cameron Leigh was born at 11:31am on Monday, November 10th, 1997. Several minutes after she was born, they put her in my arms and my doctor very gently told Tony and I that Cameron had some physical characteristics that led him to believe that our newborn baby had Down syndrome. WHAT????? NOOOOO!!!! I screamed in my head. As I was holding this precious human being and blocking out whatever my doctor was saying to us, all that was going through my head was "We're going to have an ugly, stupid child."
Not very proud of that moment. I still cringe when I think back to having those thoughts. But I know that God doesn't make junk and what he gave us was better than I could have ever imagined during those first few hours after Cameron's birth.
gave birth to our first daughter, Courtney. It was an uneventful pregnancy. My doctor didn't do ultrasounds so we went through that pregnancy not knowing what we were having. I had the usual blood and urine tests, as well as the Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) test. The AFP test, usually performed at 15 to 18 weeks of pregnancy, was designed to look for babies with neural tube defects, such as an open spinal cord or brain. During this stage of pregnancy, the AFP levels of many women carrying babies with neural tube defects is higher than expected. The AFP test is also used to screen for Down syndrome. AFP levels tend to be lower than expected for women pregnant with a Down syndrome baby. All tests for my first pregnancy came back within normal ranges. Courtney was born on May 6, 1995. A very healthy, normal baby girl.I was 31 years old when I gave birth to our second daughter, Cameron. The above is exactly what took place for my 2nd pregnancy. No ultrasound. All tests normal. We were well on our way to expanding our
perfect family. Cameron Leigh was born at 11:31am on Monday, November 10th, 1997. Several minutes after she was born, they put her in my arms and my doctor very gently told Tony and I that Cameron had some physical characteristics that led him to believe that our newborn baby had Down syndrome. WHAT????? NOOOOO!!!! I screamed in my head. As I was holding this precious human being and blocking out whatever my doctor was saying to us, all that was going through my head was "We're going to have an ugly, stupid child."Not very proud of that moment. I still cringe when I think back to having those thoughts. But I know that God doesn't make junk and what he gave us was better than I could have ever imagined during those first few hours after Cameron's birth.
The First Entry...
My sister has been telling me for a few years now that I need to start a blog of my own. This endeavor seemed like a good idea but actually getting something going was quite another story. Procrastination is my middle name when it comes to, oh...I don't know...WORK! But we have come to a time in our lives where Cameron has started middle school, and the changes that are happening are worth the effort it will take to document some of our day to day happenings. It's not my intention to focus only on Cameron. Having 4 girls, it will be quite easy to share the light with Cameron's sisters, as they provide much comedic relief for our family. But I do want to document the road we have traveled to this point as well as the challenges and joys of having a daughter with Down syndrome.
So this is who we are: Tony (Husband and Dad), Becky (Wife, Mom and Author of this Blog), Courtney (Daughter, 15 years old), Cameron (Daughter, 12 years old, born with Down syndrome and CHD)), Cassidie (Daughter, 11 years old) and last but not least is Cydney (Daughter, 10 years old).
Oh, by the way! I would be remiss if I didn't share with you my sister's blog. Check it out! http://pljbaj.blogspot.com/ (Thank me later Lynne!)
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