- She said to me, she said to me,
"If you have this baby and he has Down Syndrome,
you will have won the jackpot."
The nurse called me and she said,
"There's something wrong with your baby."
They were very concerned because of
what was going on in his body.
He had the fluid around one lung
and then it was around both lungs
and they were concerned that it was going to move
to the space around his heart.
When we went in for the second ultrasound,
things kind of went from bad to worse.
This doctor came in and he was basically giving me
all of the, you know, "Now you understand,
if you deliver, your baby will likely be born blind.
His lungs are not going to be fully developed.
And there was a high likelihood
that he was going to have Down Syndrome."
I remember thinking, "Okay, Down Syndrome,
well, that's not a death sentence."
I had several more ultrasounds.
And one of my doctors said
"Everything subsided, like, things cleared up"
One of my doctors said,
"I don't know what you're doing,
but you are so mysterious."
And I said, "I'm praying."
I just remember thinking, "Okay,
if our baby is going to have Down Syndrome,
what does that mean for us?"
Initially, I started to pray,
"God, please heal my child of Down Syndrome."
And then it was like God spoke to me and was like,
"There's nothing wrong with Down Syndrome."
And so, I just began to like see a different way, you know?
And I thought, "Man, maybe God wants
to change our family with a child who has Down Syndrome."
Would He trust me so much to give me a child
that it would shape who we are as a family?
I reached out to a friend and I said,
"I heard that you had a child who had Down Syndrome.
I just want to talk to you."
She said to me, she said to me,
"If you have this baby and he has Down Syndrome,
"you will have won the jackpot."
And I said, "What?"
You know, it just, it did not compute at the time.
After I gave birth, it was like
I totally saw what she was talking about
because these kids are just amazing.
Having Micah now has really shaped us as a family.
My kids are just more accepting.
It's like they just get it.
You know, that people are different and that's okay.
And in fact, it's beautiful.
It brings so much extra.
There's just extra joy, extra, you know, everything.
A saying that, we say, "You know, we have a homie
with a extra chromie."
You see kids that have special needs
being at church or being in the grocery store.
I remember thinking, "Oh, those moms,
they must really wish that life was different.
That their child was typical."
I know myself and many other moms that I've talked to,
we see ourselves as chosen.
We see ourselves as blessed.
And I think our society would do well
to kind of change the way we speak
because when people are called disabled,
I feel like that's a misnomer
because to be dis anything, you know,
to be disabled means you can't do something.
They're not disabled.
They're differently abled.
They're human, just like you and I
and they do things differently.
Having a child with special needs,
it will not be without struggle.
It adds another level.
Yes, there are challenges, but I would not change a thing.
Micah brings such joy to everything.
He helps us to see things from a different perspective.
He helps us to love people.
He's helped us to see the value in every life.
He just adds something so special.