An Illinois mother recently commemorated her daughter’s second birthday with a very special gift: a post on Facebook detailing the gratitude for her birth and a message to other parents welcoming their newborns with Down syndrome.
Christy Proctor learned daughter Isabella Grace had the condition when she was 22 weeks pregnant, Fox 5 Atlanta reported. Down syndrome is marked by a small or abnormally shaped head, and can cause mild to severe behavioral learning problems in affected individuals, according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
In her Facebook post, Proctor shared how the diagnosis affected her.
“I spent much of my remaining pregnancy in worry, fear of the unknown and probably every of emotion you can think of,” Proctor said on Facebook. “It was a very sad time for me.”
But she goes on in the post to encourage other parents to embrace their children as they are in light of a Down syndrome diagnosis.
“As hard as it may be to do, focus on your exciting news of simply having a baby!” she wrote in the post, which features a photo of her sonogram. What a joyful celebration. It is a time for you to fall in love with a child you've not even met yet. It's a time to prepare a nursery and pick out names. It's a time to be cherished with your family. Everything else will come in time.”
Two years ago today, I found out my baby would be born a girl. The news was quickly followed with the diagnosis of Down...
Posted by Isabella "Amazing" Grace - My Down syndrome journey on Monday, April 4, 2016
To start conversations among families affected by the condition, Proctor started the Facebook page Isabella “Amazing” Grace – My Down syndrome journey. The page had nearly 22,000 likes as of Wednesday morning.
“Isabella is a warrior and God has a mighty plan for her life,” she writes on the page. “We want to share that with you!”