One of my friends put this in her Facebook status yesterday:
"When you have a child with Down syndrome you gain a HUGE family, a diverse family, a family that knows what to say to you, a family that you... NEVER thought you wanted but now COULD NEVER live without. Giving birth to Vinnie was like giving birth to my life."
It got me to thinking. That really is true. Without Stella's "a little something extra" I never would have met an amazing group of moms. A group of moms that, it feels like, I've known forever. Ones that I can say whatever is on my mind and not worry about judgement or recriminiation. Although we don't always agree and we certainly have variety of backgrounds and demographic status, we're able to respect each other and value each others' opinions. Over the short time that we've been conversing there have been a couple of meet ups, a couple of near miss meet ups, packages sent and received, books shared, babies born and lives enriched.
All because of something that over 90%* of people would choose to not have enter their lives. I cannot say that we even talk about Down syndrome that often. It is definitely what brought us together but it's not what has kept us together.
*Over 90% of people who receive a prenatal dx of Ds choose to terminate their pregnancy. Just think what all those people are missing!
One of my friends put this in her Facebook status yesterday:
"When you have a child with Down syndrome you gain a HUGE family, a diverse family, a family that knows what to say to you, a family that you... NEVER thought you wanted but now COULD NEVER live without. Giving birth to Vinnie was like giving birth to my life."
It got me to thinking. That really is true. Without Stella's "a little something extra" I never would have met an amazing group of moms. A group of moms that, it feels like, I've known forever. Ones that I can say whatever is on my mind and not worry about judgement or recriminiation. Although we don't always agree and we certainly have variety of backgrounds and demographic status, we're able to respect each other and value each others' opinions. Over the short time that we've been conversing there have been a couple of meet ups, a couple of near miss meet ups, packages sent and received, books shared, babies born and lives enriched.
All because of something that over 90%* of people would choose to not have enter their lives. I cannot say that we even talk about Down syndrome that often. It is definitely what brought us together but it's not what has kept us together.
*Over 90% of people who receive a prenatal dx of Ds choose to terminate their pregnancy. Just think what all those people are missing!