31 for 21: Can I make it?

Well, I haven't blogged in forever, but I'm going to try to blog everyday in the month of October in honor of Down Syndrome Awareness Month!  I was blessed on December 12, 2006 with my first born, a son we named Andrew after my grandfather who passed away in September 2001, long before he could meet any of his great-grandchildren.  I was always Pop's girl, so it was fitting that his first great-grandson would bear his name.  Shortly after Andrew was born, we learned that the doctor's suspected that he had Down syndrome, which was later confirmed by a DNA test.

I begin my posts for this month with a little information about the morning of Andrew's birth:

It was Tuesday, December 12, 2006 at 8:05am. My first baby, Andrew was just born via C-section. I was waiting and waiting for his first cry, the cry that would let me know that he was indeed here and he was all right. Finally, it came--a tiny little cry that brought tears to my eyes. I looked over at Chris and we smiled together. Our son was finally here.
While we were waiting for the pediatrician who were working on Andrew to bring bring him over to us so we could get our first look at our son, we chatted with the anesthesiologist who was at my head. Finally a doctor came over to us, without Andrew. She looked at me and said, "It appears that your son has a genetic anomaly. We will need to do further testing." And with that she walked away. Chris and I looked at each other and then he looked at the anesthesiologist. He asked her what that meant. She said that she didn't know.

Finally, Andrew was brought over to us. Chris took him in his arms and showed him to me. He was beautiful and he looked just like his daddy. I looked into his eyes and then I realized what it was, the genetic anomaly that the doctor was talking about. Andrew has Down Syndrome. My first-born child has Down Syndrome. I looked at Chris and told him. I will never forget what he said to me. "Andrew was given to us for a reason. We were chosen to have him and we are being trusted to take care of him." And he was right! We were very lucky to have Andrew come into our life and we were going to help him become the best person that he can be. And we are going to learn from him, much more than he will learn from us.