Introduction
A Down syndrome diagnosis changes your story. Our story changed February 14, 2017, when I was about 13 weeks pregnant. I had an NIPT test done (non-invasive prenatal testing), primarily for the purpose of determining whether Emery would be another (our fourth!) boy. The thought that she might have Down syndrome never crossed my mind. Yes, I was getting older, but I didn't believe I was THAT old, and I honestly felt that since my husband had a sister with Down syndrome, the odds that it would happen again in our family were extremely low. When the test results were due to be in, I called and left a message with my doctor, asking him if we were expecting boy #4. When he called back, however, he did not lead with the gender. He very calmly and tenderly told me that he had called as soon as he received the results, because the test showed there was a 99% chance that this little one had Down syndrome. After discussing what that meant in more detail (for example, the test only tests pl...