Diagnosis

So... after six months of speculation, wonderings, and percentages, the Mayo Clinic has confirmed that Miss Caroline does indeed have Down's Syndrome. Of course, to be perfectly honest, we were hoping that this call would've turned out differently. One doctor, two nurses and a close family friend with experience all planted a seed of hope at the hospital that perhaps the results would've come back negative. Although it seemed obvious to us that she did have Down's Syndrome just from looking at her, there are several classic "Down's" characteristics that she doesn't have - a single crease on her hands and low set ears, for example. However, when the heart condition was confirmed this week (a significant marker for Down's in itself), our hope began to diminish. However, today I can honestly tell you that it doesn't matter to me in the slightest. It's actually just nice to KNOW for sure. Without this experience, I would've never known that the season of just WAITING can actually be tremendously more difficult than just receiving the diagnosis and accepting it. That's certainly a lesson to me on how I can minister to others who are going through a season of waiting for anything big... Have ya'll heard the song "While I'm Waiting" by John Waller? It's worth downloading for the collection...

My friend, Tracy, came by yesterday afternoon and brought a bag of books passed along by a friend who has a friend who has a friend who has a friend who reads the blog. (or something like that) It's FULL of informational books about children with Down's syndrome - cognitive development, fine motor skills, gross motor skills, and support group information for parents. Totally appropriate since I got the call from the doctor just an hour or so later. There will be much more to come about this, but I appreciated the Lord's timing with it yesterday.

On a side note, I know very little about Down's Syndrome at this point. Seriously. I've done very little research - probably in hopes that I wouldn't need it. All that to say, I know that lots of people (and I'll probably be one one day when I know enough to be correct) are sensitive to the terms used about Down's Syndrome and children who have it. I apologize if my terminology even in this post is insensitive - I'll do better when I know better.

Moving on, Scott left this afternoon to return to his day job with Delta. I know he didn't want to go. I didn't want him to go. It's been an unbelievable blessing to have him here all week. He's the only person in the universe that the more I spend time with him, the more time I crave with him. He just doesn't really get on my nerves. Well, sometimes that stupid IPhone does, but that's another story... :) Anyway, it's one of those nights that I had a HUGE piece of cheesecake (from Steak Out where my mother-in-law sent dinner from last night), made myself nearly sick from eating the whole thing and will probably sleep on the couch rather than take the time to put the clean sheets back on the bed. What day of the week is it again? I lost track about Saturday...