Understatement: "You are going to feel a little discomfort"

January 21, 2011 The days that followed were filled with a whirlwind of emotions. We went in that next morning for an amniocentesis. This is when we started to hear the redundant questions about whether Eric and I were choosing to continue with the pregnancy. I am in no place to even begin to tell you how this question makes us feel, but yes-- yes, rooms full of doctors and countless counselors, yes, we are moving forward and not giving up on our daughter. We were initially told they thought our baby girl had a rare genetic condition, because of the collection of findings. A- she could have a fatal condition and not survive minutes after her birth. B- she could have Down's Syndrome, or a similar syndrome. I read in a blog once, about a father who was retelling his family's story of his daughter's birth. He tells about how when he first heard the news that his daughter could have Down's Syndrome, he prayed "please, Lord, not Down's Syndrome, please dont let it be Down's Syndrome. Days later when they received their test results and the doctor came back with a prognosis of little to no chance of survival, he fell to his knees and prayed "God, why couldnt it just be Down's Syndrome." Eric and I from the very first mention of our daughter possibly having Down's Syndrome. We both turned to each other and said, this we can handle. We were thankful for tests that would help us find these answers. We pleaded for this to be the extent of our daughter's condition. Now we knew, of course, that the doctors were more concerned with her heart than any other part of her developing body, and very concerned about the fluid surrounding her heart. The genetic counselors words were "Best case, we have a baby with Down's Syndrome or another similar syndrome. But we would still have a baby with Down's Syndrome with a very very sick heart." So the testing continued... MRI, Echo, more ultrasounds, tests on the amniotic fluid, more ultrasounds, blood tests, genetic counseling, genetic testing, and so on. These arent results we received within a day or so, but as a collection this is what we have learned from January to March. Each test confirmed what the doctors were all expecting to see. Each test lessening her odds of survival- each test, strengthening our faith in God.