Down Syndrome Awareness Month #3

As I have mentioned before, we did not know Justin had DS before he was born. And we "figured it out" ourselves in a sense. Randy and I both said that we thought something was a bit off, but we couldn't explain it. Our thoughts were confirmed by chromosome analysis, but not even our pediatrician mentioned any concerns without our prompting. We are forever grateful not to have had that experience of someone else telling us that our baby has DS.

But as we started telling people (maybe shocking people is a better way to say it!), we often got the question, "What did you see? Because I cannot see anything!" Still, the best answer is that God opened our eyes, and closed other people's in the meantime to protect us. Justin does have some of the physical markers that indicate DS, but of course, I didn't know them at the time. I didn't even research them while we were waiting for test results. I would have driven myself crazy! But here are some of the things that Justin does have:

Single Transverse Palmar Crease (also known as a simian crease):

It's just a single crease across a person's palm. Here is my hand, along with Justin's hand.

A larger than normal space between the first and second toes:

Travis also had this when he was born, but it is not as pronounced as Justin's.

Brushfield spots in his eyes:

This is a little hard to see, but in the iris (the colored part of his eyes), there is a ring of little white spots. In blue eyes it is much easier to see than in darker colors I am told. (Isn't this the cutest picture ever?! Well, I am his mother!)

The above picture also shows the top rim of his ear (helix) folded over. That's another visible physical characteristic that Justin bears.

He does have a little of the flattened face that is also often seen in DS, but it is not as pronounced. That is probably what made it a bit more difficult to diagnose without the chromosome test. He also has low set ears, but since that is more of a comparison issue, it's also hard to see. All these things exist in the regular population, but combined they seem to exist with more frequency in DS.

The other things are not visible: low muscle tone, loose joints, the heart defect. Some researchers say that the protruding tongue is sometimes caused by a large tongue, but I think Justin's tongue sticks out because of the low muscle tone, and it is already improving. Of course, when he gets excited, his mouth is wide open and the tongue is way out! But that's something totally different!

I did not know any of this before Justin's birth, but it is interesting for me to see these things now. None of it will ever change anything about Justin or how I feel about him. God knit him together in my womb, and he knew all about him even before then. God is taking care of him. I trust that perfectly and completely, sometimes better than others!