The Diagnosis

On Monday August 9, 2004 around 10am my husband Dennis and I were called in to meet with the doctor (on-call) to discuss the results of my amnio. I asked if everything was ok and she said, "there's just a little problem". I knew in my heart at that moment my baby could have DS, why else would they want to meet with us in person?

I met Dennis in the clinic parking lot (we were both at work at the time of the call) we hugged eachother and walked in silence to the OB Dept. We were escorted directly into one of the exam rooms and within 5 minutes an unfamiliar woman doctor walked in and sat down with the news.

"Well, unfortunately the amnio results came back positive for down syndrome"

All I can remember hearing were her ramblings about how 'THEY' are prone to alzhiemers, leukemia, heart defects, blah... blah...blah...negative...negative...negative.

She informed us that we had approximately 1 week to make 'a decision' (I was 17 weeks gestation). Somewhere in the midst I asked her what the sex was, and she replied, "it says 'abnormal female karyotype with trisomy 21". I remember hearing Dennis say, "A girl" and then he burst into tears. The dr. left the room after what seemed like hours (it was probably only 15 minutes) and Dennis and I just held eachother in our tears without saying word.

We walked out of that room with the feeling that all eyes were on us. We held eachother one more time before getting into our own cars to head home. I called my parents as did Dennis on the way home. Both our parents were extremely supportive regardless of what decision we would ultimately make. Dennis went straight to bed out of pure emotional exhaustion and I headed straigh for the internet.

We were flown to Oahu to meet with the perinatologist a couple of days later - he was FANTASTIC!!! We actually had almost 3 weeks to 'make a decision' of which I researched, prayed, spoke with family & friends, and prayed more. It was the unknown that scared us (especially my darling Dennis) and we had to trust God that He would not give us anything that we could not handle. He kept his promise...