90%

Approximately 90% of American families choose to abort a baby when they receive a prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome. Do those 90% look at my baby and think he shouldn't be here? Or is it just that they didn't want to be "burdened" with a child like him? And if it's the latter, why couldn't they have just placed the child up for adoption instead of aborting the child? It's a sad reflection on our society that it's more socially acceptable to abort a baby than to carry a baby to term and place the baby up for adoption.

Is our life more difficult today than it was a year ago? Absolutely. But the smile that starts with a bright shine in his eyes... wouldn't trade it!

I've heard of some parents of little ones with Down syndrome who say they wouldn't change the fact that their child has Down syndrome. I confess, I'm not there. I would take it away if I could, especially since it would likely mean that Micah wouldn't have had to go through abdominal surgery when he was 2 days old and open-heart surgery when he was 4 months old. And he likely wouldn't have the awful digestion issues that he has. And...

I didn't mention much about his visit to the pediatrician except that his weight was down. I do realize that his actual weight is not terrible... the problem is that he hasn't grown in two months. I've always said he wouldn't be as big as he is if HE was the one who was deciding how much food went into his body (and I'm going to talk to the nutritionist about this when we get to Feeding Clinic on 11/5... more about that later).

Anyway... the first thing that happens at a well visit with the pediatrician is that the nurse brings you into a room and asks you developmental questions about your child. I wonder if I can request that they just don't do that anymore. It's heartbreaking to have to answer "no" to absolutely every question. "Is he pulling himself up on furniture?" Actually, he's hardly pushing up while on his tummy these days. He's never tucked his legs underneath himself while on his tummy. He only rolls from his back to his tummy going to his right. I know that "he'll get there, just at his own pace." But sometimes it's just really hard. I don't like looking at video or photos of Nathan as a baby because it reminds me of how delayed Micah is. And nevermind how it feels to hear someone "complain" about how their 6mo old is crawling and getting into absolutely everything...

So surely there's a prayer request in there somewhere. I guess it's really about being content with our current circumstances and not try to compare Micah with anyone else.