31 for 21 - A Defining Moment

When Connor's Complete AV Canal Defect was diagnosed at about 28 weeks pregnant, it was like the whole world changed in an instant. I did not know what to think, how to feel, it was like I could not breath. We were then told that with this heart defect there was a 50% chance that our baby would have Down Syndrome. At the time I honestly was not sure what was worse. I did not know much about Down Syndrome, but all negative thoughts came to mind. I did not know anything about raising a child with special needs....this could not be happening to us. We would not be good parents to this child. We did not have the money or the time to commit to a child with special needs. We then started praying that it would only be a heart defect and that our child would not have Down Syndrome. After speaking to several different doctors, it was determined that our risk was actually much lower based on the Quad screening that I had earlier during pregnancy. It was more like a 1 in 100 chance. I started to feel a little better about it, but was still hoping that my baby would not be the 1.

Just prior to 3 months after Connor was born, he was going in for surgery to repair 2 holes in his heart and fix a problem with the valve connecting the 2 chambers. This was a major heart surgery that would be done by the Chief of Cardiac Surgery at Children's Hospital Boston. We had to go in the day before surgery and spend the night because they did a sedated echo and wanted to keep him overnight due to the sedation. In the morning, when the nurse came to take Connor down to pre-op it all hit me. It did not matter at all that Connor had Down Syndrome. I just wanted my baby to live through the heart surgery and come back home with us. He was my baby and nothing else matter. I only wanted him to live. We could figure everything else out later.

It is now 2 and 1/2 years later and Connor is absolutely perfect! He made it through his surgery without any major complications. He is the best son a mom could ever ask for am I am so happy that he was the 1. I cannot imagine Connor any other way =)