So now I wonder...

When we found out we were pregnant this time around, there was no question that we would skip the prenatal screenings. We knew that anything screened for would be visible on our level 2 ultrasound, except Down syndrome. There were no markers for Down syndrome on the ultrasound and everything measured exactly as it should. Plenty of babies with Down syndrome are born without any markers on the level 2 ultrasound, so that does not mean that she is not sporting an extra chromosome, but odds are good that she has the usual number.

I had to wrap my brain around the possibility of a typical baby this time around. I admit that Eon, with his phenomenal sleeping schedule and laid back personality, completely spoiled us. I remember well the infancies of my typical kids with their unexplained crying jags and demanding personalities. Seems like a lot of work to me.

As a family, we enjoy Eon so much and delight in everything that he is. I worry now that we will not have the same bond with his little sister, that we will miss all she has to offer because of our complete devotion to her brother. My head knows that it is unfounded, but my heart is not so easily convinced.

So I wonder, will she have Down syndrome, too? Will she be healthy? Will we instantly bond? Will we accept her and delight in who she is? Time will tell, but these are the things I pray about.

Processing

Simeon is 17 months-old and I am just starting to see some of the processing differences in him. Rather than just being delayed or behind on milestones, he takes a little longer than his typical peers to process information. An example of this is his tendency to take a nose dive off the bed if not watched closely. He stands and cruises independently, but he has yet to figure out how to safely get off the bed. I've been providing verbal, visual, and tactile cues for this task for months, but he insists that head first is the only way to fall....and fall he does on occasion. Thankfully, other than a bruise or two, he has escaped these incidences relatively unharmed.

Even with his slower processing, he often surprises me. I've been playing the "where's your nose" game with him for a few weeks, to no avail. He simply looks at me blankly whenever I ask. But, the other day, I asked a different question: "Where's your head?" Immediately, he smiled really big and patted his head. I have no idea where he learned that. Silly mom's just been asking the wrong question all this time! :)