World Down Syndrome Day 2023

This was our first World Down Syndrome Day living in Michigan! The Down Syndrome community in Traverse City is quite smaller than Toledo, so we are still meeting families and hope to become more involved with the association up here. Drew does have a few friends at school who rock the extra chromosome which is awesome.

World Down Syndrome Day is celebrated on 3/21 because it represents the 3 copies of the 21st chromosome that individuals with Down Syndrome have. You may hear that people with Down Syndrome are born with “something extra” and that’s exactly why. We’re the lucky few!

Since this is my first post centering around Down Syndrome, I thought I would give a little background information about the beginning of our journey with Andrew.

We found out we were expecting in July of 2013. Our first baby! Ryan and I were over the moon excited. We immediately thought about all the things first time parents think about: gender, names, decorating the nursery, tiny baby clothes, will he or she look like mom or dad…

Everything looked good early on and at my 11-week appointment, they asked me if I wanted genetic testing done. I didn’t think much of it and said yes. This was my first baby, he or she would be perfect and normal.

The Day God Revealed His Plan

I will never forget the day I received the phone call. It was a beautiful sunny day in September of 2013 (God was already sending a sign everything would be okay). I had come home on my lunch break and Ryan was home too. I remember taking the phone call outside.

“Hi, is this Annie?”

“Yes, this is Annie.”

“This is (I can’t remember her name) from maternal fetal medicine. I am sorry to say, but your test result came back positive for Trisomy 21.”

I would later realize that she should have never been “sorry”. There was a much better way she could have shared the news. “Congratulations! You’re one of the lucky few! Your baby has an extra chromosome. This means he or she may take longer to do certain things, but my goodness you are going to have so much love and fun in your life with this one.” Something like that would have been a little more appropriate. But we’re still learning, and I think we’re getting better.

However, all I remember is “I’m sorry” and “Down Syndrome”.

I tried holding back the tears. She started rambling medical jargon, but I wasn’t listening. After hanging up, the tears flowed. I mean they flowed. I ran inside and embraced Ryan just sobbing. He thought someone had died, so I blurted out “The baby has Down Syndrome!” More tears.

After taking time just the two of us to process and settle down some, Ryan drove me back to school. I don’t know why I didn’t just call and say I wasn’t coming back that afternoon. I was a mess. Ryan actually went in to explain the situation to my principal. I remember sitting in the car and the tears were still flowing. I think some of my co-workers came out to comfort me, but it is all such a blur.

Soon after we got home, we decided to share the news with our parents and close family. I called my sister-in-law, Tiffany. She came over that night. I wish I could remember exactly what she said to make me feel better but all I know is that she did. Tiffany has a way with words and advice, and I will forever appreciate her love and wisdom that day. We had nothing but support from all our family. They loved Andrew from the very beginning, and I don’t know what I would have done without the village I have, now known as Andrew’s Avengers!

Andrew decided to make his arrival into the world six weeks early and I could write up a whole other blog post about that roller coaster of a ride! After several days in the NICU, we brought home a healthy, perfect baby boy who has changed all of our lives for the better.

Here we are nine years later celebrating March 21st for the 10th time! 10 years of that extra chromosome. When I look back on those days, I just want to hug my old self and show a snapshot of what the next 10 years would bring. I also want to grab her by the shoulders and say, “Why the **** are you crying so much?” Haha!

But I now know I had to go through that grieving process. Mourn the baby I thought I was going to have. Sometimes we think we have our nice little life all planned out then God has a little chuckle. 10 years ago, I did not understand what I did to deserve a baby with a Down Syndrome (terrible thought process at the time I know). Now here I am 10 years later, wondering what I ever did to deserve this amazing kid. Funny how that works.

3/21/23

We always begin WDSD by putting on some mismatched socks! They are meant to represent the chromosomes and spark awareness about Down Syndrome. We rock our crazy socks to celebrate Down Syndrome and the joy of diversity!

The boys’ whole school celebrated which is awesome. I sent in a special treat to their classes and some books for their teachers to read aloud. This is Me! by George Webster is a new one I bought this year, and I love its big hearted message about finding your ‘glow’. I highly recommend it for teaching young children about disability and inclusion.

Lucas introduced Drew to his class and shared a little bit about Down Syndrome. I wish I could have heard his words, but I am sure he shared Andrew in a loving, positive light. They also passed out treats to everyone with an important message.

After school, we headed out to enjoy one of Andrew’s favorite treats: smoothies! We typically go to Tropical Smoothie Cafe, but wanted to try somewhere local for this outing. After a quick google search, we decided on Playa Bowls downtown aka Pineappleland! It had a fun, beachy atmosphere and the smoothies were delicious!

When we got home, I whipped up some tacos for dinner, another one of Andrew’s favs, and we enjoyed cupcakes for dessert. It was a wonderful day celebrating Drew and that something extra God gave him!

Sometimes the things we can’t change, end up changing us instead.”