Welcome continued...

Lana was born on April 21, 2005. When she arrived I looked at her with pure amazement and love. I thought she was the most precious baby ever, but thought to myself that her appearance was unique. A few minutes after her arrival a doctor came to us and informed us that they thought she had most of the characteristics of a child with Down syndrome. A flood of emotions blasted us as we broke into our deepest emotions ever. Once given the news the doctors took Lana away from us for hours and hours for all of the countless health screenings, blood work, x-rays, and heart screenings. The wait for Lana to return was like an eternity, but once she was brought back to us we were at ease, but still an emotional wreck while anticipating the results. Result after result, each came back negative. Our baby girl was healthy! After 5 days in the hospital we were able bring our baby home with jaundice and with fear of her needing open heart surgery. We were quite distressed for a few weeks because of all of the overwhelming emotions and information about the elevated health risks, as well as, being inundated with thoughts and fears of Lana's future and how it would be different than what we had dreamt of for our baby girl. Honestly, at that point we knew very little about Down syndrome or what to expect with our "baby". We were given a lot of heavy information at the wrong time. If I could go back to the day we were blessed with Lana, I would take away all the books that the doctors handed us and tell those grieving parents and their family all the wonderful facts that I now know, all the joys to look forward to, as well as, the countless other blessings. I would make sure to skip all that usual distress that comes with finding out that your child has Down syndrome. Once we finished grieving from the shock, we quickly started rejoicing with all the amazing attributes and endless possibilities that lay before Lana, our baby girl, as well as, the ways that she is just a regular o'le girl! I love it! We don't explain Lana as being a Down syndrome child, but as "just Lana, who happens to have T21". She's been enhanced with an extra 21st chromosome, that's all, it does NOT define her! BTW, praise God, Lana's holes in her heart closed on their own.

Please make yourselves at home. If you have any thoughts, comments, concerns or anything at all feel free to comment away! Enjoy…