The World is Missing out on 90% of some very special people

I was driving to Claire's Theater Honor Graduation Ceremony last night.  I knew she would be performing numerous numbers including a solo and it would be alot of fun for her to do, and alot of fun for me to watch.  I was feeling light and happy!  All these fun graduation things honoring your child just make you burst with joy!

I casually turned on the radio where they were discussing Down Syndrome.  A new report has come out saying that since testing has been developed, 90% of all babies with Down Syndrome are aborted.  That's why you don't see many children with Down Syndrome any more.  In many countries, the statistic is 100% (even though there is a +/- 2.5 %  chance of error in testing).

Then it came painfully shooting back into my memory.  It was February 1, 1999.  I remember that exact date, even the exact moment.  I was due in July.  Tests had been done at my last OB/GYN appointment.  I was rushing out the door when the phone rang.  "I don't have time to stop and answer." I thought, "I'll let it go to the machine."  I was standing, keys in hand, one step out the door, when I heard a man's voice talking on my answering machine.  It was my Doctor asking me to call him to go over test results.  When do Doctor's actually call you with test results?  That's never good, is it?   I ran back in and called the office back and then sat down while he told me the news.  It looked like my baby might be Down Syndrome.

This was just news about our baby, not a decision to be made. This baby belonged to us.  This was just something about our baby we hadn't known yet.  When I shared the news with Reid he had the same instant reaction.  There is no decision.  This is our child.  And we already love her!

But here was the radio news telling me that most parents who get the same news, do face a decision.  And 90% of them make the decision to abort.  I just couldn't believe it.  I came home and googled a little about this.  Lots of varying points of view:  Some people think  it is such a shame that there are not more loving, kind, happy Down Syndrome children because they enrich our lives so much!  Others were writing that they aborted a Down Syndrome child and they are grateful they did and have gone on to have other healthy children.  Still others who have Down Syndrome children wrote about the ups and downs of it all.  It was alot to take in.

Am I grateful Claire was not born with Down Syndrome?  No.  Grateful is not what I am.  I would have been grateful either way that a beautiful child had joined our eternal family.  Has it been easier that she is healthy?  Probably.  But having a Down Syndrome child was something we had to face reality about.  And it confirmed in us that we actually did respond the way we had previously only hoped we would respond.  

She's graduating soon.    Perfectly beautiful, perfectly healthy.  A cheerful, loving, kind person who has her Chromosome 21 in tact.

They talk about life decisions that shape us.  This is one time when having no decision to make shaped us.  Because we felt and acted just like we had previously only hoped we would.  We don't get those opportunities to prove ourselves to ourselves very often!  Would you go into a burning building to save someone?  Would you risk your life to rescue someone dangling from a cliff?  I think you would.  It would be a "no decision" time.  You would react just the way you hope you would.  Maybe it's not life decisions that show who we are.  Maybe it's reactions that show our true character.