Sydney

                It is supposed to be a happy and joyful day. It is supposed to be a celebration. It is supposed to be full of tears of joy and smiles. Instead this day is sad, scary, and filled with tears of sadness. This is something that no one in my family saw coming and no one is prepared for. All we know is something is wrong, she is not breathing on her own, and she is in danger. My family walks to the nursery to get a glimpse of what is happening and from a distance all you see is new parents holding their new bundle of joy wrapped in a pink blanket. At a closer look you see the tears rolling down their faces, the tubes and wires hanging from the blanket, and then the nurse brings her to the window. One look and all of our fears stared us in the face. She has Down’s syndrome. My baby cousin Sydney was born in May and now is almost six months old. The day she was born was not like we all pictured, but she is our miracle and she is the whole reason for my blog. Since this is my last blog I do not want to bring up a new disorder and tell you the symptoms, causes, and reasons to think before you laugh. I want you to know my real life story that has motivated me to hopefully change your view on people with medical afflictions. My very first blog touched on this experience, but now I want you to know the whole story, because someday you might see Sydney or someone like her and I want you to remember this story.

                The day Sydney was born everything went as planned. Her mother Mandy had a normal delivery and no one knew anything was wrong until the next day. The swelling went down in her face and she had to be under an oxygen hood because her lungs were not completely developed. Then the doctors kept looking at her hands and toes, her mouth, and her heart. While we were watching we thought it just was routine, but then Carl, her father, said she was going downhill. Sydney was too weak to eat so she has to have a feeding tube, and she never cried. The doctor walked to where we were all standing and pulled Carl aside. His knees hit the floor and tears ran down his face. The doctor explained Sydney has Down’s syndrome and needed to be in the hospital for a few weeks. Her toes were set far apart, the roof of her mouth is higher than normal, her fingers are shorter than normal, and she has one crease on the palm of her hand which is all signs of Down’s syndrome. My family was devastated. Sydney is Carl and Mandy’s first baby and now they are faced with the struggles she will have the rest of her life.

                After we got over the initial shock and then we were worried about her health. Since many babies with Down’s syndrome have heart problems and intestinal problems. They also have a higher risk of leukemia. Sydney had many tests done and everything came back normal. This was a huge sigh of relief and my whole family’s mood changed. We have accepted that she is different, but there is not one thing wrong with that. She spent about a month in the hospital and then came home to open arms. Except there was one person who could not accept the situation, her father; Carl was afraid from the beginning of Mandy’s pregnancy that something would go wrong and it did. He did not want to hold her, look at her, or accept she is his baby with Down’s syndrome. Sounds terrible right? Yes. But I want you to understand something. He was terrified. He knew firsthand what it is like to take of someone with special needs. When he was 17 he took care of a man that was mentally retarded, Bud. He was a janitor at Carl’s high school and when kids made fun of him Carl stood up for Bud. Bud lived with Carl until he passed away. Carl dealt with the daily struggles of feeding him, helping him when he messed his pants, and loved him through it all. You would think with his experience with Bud he would be the best parent for Sydney, but he knows what her life will be like and her struggles unlike the rest of us.

                Today Carl has realized God gave him Sydney for a reason and he is an amazing father. Sydney goes to physical therapy every week to work with her muscles because Down syndrome kids have a hard time developing their muscles. She is now sitting up, rolling over, and happier than ever. She is right on track for her age and has all the love in the world. She still never cries, if she is hungry she lets out one little yell and that is it. She smiles and laughs all the time. The amazing thing is the more time you spend with her you stop seeing that she has Down’s syndrome. To my family she is Sydney, our joyful gift that was unexpected, but we would not have her any other way.

                We will not know how severe her mental disabilities will be until she is older, but we hope for the best. I know that when she goes to school kids will make fun of her, I know when she walks in public people will stare, I know when she is my age she will have a different life than I have, but I also know that she will be beautiful, happy, and always have people to love her. What I hope for is that she will have people in her life that stand up for her, treat her like she is no different than anyone else, and accept her for who she is. What I really wish for is not what I can do for her, but what you can. I hope that if you ever met Sydney or someone like her you respect her and remember her story. I have talked to you for weeks about disorders that people make fun of people for having and that your laughs and jokes are HATE. I hope that my blog has changed your opinion about people with disorders and you will now stop the HATE and spread the word of RESPECT. I want Sydney to grow up in a world where she can be confident, and you can make that happen. If you stand up for people like her and tell your friends to and even teach your kids someday to treat everyone equal whether a person has Tourette’s, is obese, anorexic, mentally ill, or even purple they deserve love and respect. You can make a difference,” Be the change you wish to see in the world.”-Gandhi