Congratulations on the birth of your new baby! 

Having a baby is a defining moment in our lives, one that should be filled with tears of joy, hope and love.  However, happiness, joy, hope and excitement may be far from what you’re feeling right now, and because of that, we have decided to share our story.    We hope that sharing our experience, and watching our slide show will provide you and your family with the support, understanding and encouragement you may need at this time. 

We want to help you to understand what life is like having a baby with Down syndrome.  We hope you will see, and believe, that your life is going to be  a little more challenging, but rewarding just alike, and as “normal” as YOU make it.  More importantly, our hope is that we help to ease your fears. You’ll see that our baby, Brody, has done everything that a typical baby does, as will yours.  He’s just done it on his own schedule, which happens to be slightly delayed in some areas, according to the typical milestones charts.  But, he’s doing everything that we expected our baby to do, before we found out he had Down syndrome.  He eats, talks, walks, laughs, plays, dances, and can be naughty, just like any other 2 year old boy.  He makes us laugh every day!  We treat him as if he doesn’t have Down syndrome in regards to our expectations.  He amazes and inspires us in everything little thing he does, no matter the simplicity or complexity of it.  The love you will experience is like none other, and the things your new baby will teach you will be breath taking, awesome and life changing.

Our first baby…
The anticipation was almost over and the excitement of welcoming and meeting our new baby was rising and rising…
Finally the day was here….

But, on October 2, 2008….our “perfect” day was shattered by 2 simple words….Down syndrome.
The words and emotions that followed were frightening and overwhelming to say the least;
“Open Heart Surgery, AVSD, Single Crease on Palm, Large Space between Toes, Early Intervention, Therapy, Medicaid, Developmental Delays, Inclusion”
We were so scared.  We felt, despite what we were being told by family, friends and doctors, that it was NEVER going to be OK. 

That these people had NO IDEA WHAT WE WERE GOING THROUGH OR FEELING!  This baby was not who or what we wanted or expected.  I wanted to run away, to wake up from what MUST be a terrible dream.  “Your baby has Down syndrome, and he will need open heart surgery to repair the hole in his heart”. 

And we thought, “Who’s going to fix the hole in our hearts?”  I felt disconnected, depressed and broken hearted.  “This happens to other people!  Not to us!”  It was a long first few weeks, but soon our hearts opened up, the tears turned to smiles.  Acceptance set in.  Almost 6 months later, heart surgery on our beautiful little baby took place, and soon we were back home picking up with our lives.  And now, 2 ½ years later, we love our baby more than we ever dreamt possible!  He is thriving, happy and healthy!  We have come to know that “More is Better”! We wouldn’t trade that extra chromosome for all of the money in the world.  He as a one more chromosome than you and I, and we are ALL better because of it!  And…..we are NOT scared anymore. 

No matter what you are experiencing at this time, know that anything and everything that you’re feeling is completely NORMAL.  Accept everything you are feeling right now, grieve as you will and should, and most importantly, know that everything WILL be OK.  It may not happen today or tomorrow, or next week or next month, but it WILL happen.  You WILL be OK and you, too, WILL love your baby more than you think possible at this very moment in time. 

Pick up your baby, hold her tight, and breathe him in as you watch this.  Embrace every emotion that your heart tells you to, and when you feel you can’t go on, hold him tighter.  You’ll see that, already, this new little life is giving you the strength you need! It is only the beginning of countless times you’ll hold your precious, beautiful, unexpected gift and he or she will give you the strength and courage you need to take the next step.

 

~Randy, Christine and Brody Savicki
BRODY’S BUDDY™ RIDE- “More is Better”