The begining, the very begining...

My wife and I had been trying to get pregnant for several months.  We were really hoping for a summer birthday as I build swimming pools for a living and wanted our child to have pool parties.  (The things that seemed important then...)  We were unsuccessful for several months and decided to take a couples months off from trying, and just enjoy being able to have a drink through the holidays.  Sure enough, as we got through the 1st of the year, my wife started feeling a little light headed at work and decided to take a test.

We did it!!  The next 7 months were pretty typical, aside from the fact that my wife experienced an unusually pleasant pregnancy.  Instead of gaining weight, we both decided we needed to be better role models and "got healthy."  We ate better and exercised more (under close watch by the doctor.)  My wife never really got morning sickness, and I felt a little ripped off that I never had to run out at midnight to get her ice cream and pickles.

We found out at 20 weeks that we were having a girl.  I thought I wanted a boy, but couldn't have been more excited to get the nursery done now that I saw my little girl.  Then one July day, my wife's back started to hurt.  She thought nothing of it for a while, but eventually called me and told me we had to go to the doctors.  I jumped in my truck and sped off to our house to pick her up.  It turns out her back pain, was labor pain.

What?!?  We still have 10 weeks.  We haven't done any of the final preparations.  What are we going to do?  Well we got to our hospital and the doctors gave her meds to stop the labor.  She was transferred to a hospital better suited to handle a premature baby and underwent more testing.  It was found that our little girl had a pleural effusion, which meant she had fluid surrounding her lungs.  This meant we had to take my wife off the meds and let her go into labor.  We were so nervous.

The meds were stopped over night and my wife began labor once again.  At 7:02 am about 4-5 nurses and doctors came into our room to check on my wife, but didn't say much.  They were soon followed by a half a dozen or so more people.  They were all very concerned and talking to each other, but didn't have time to talk to us.  The only thing I remember hearing was "she's dropping."

My wife was rushed out of the room and into the OR.  Our daughter needed an emergency C section.  They took my wife out of the room at 7:07 and the next 7 minutes of my life were the longest imaginable.  At some point a nurse came back in to tell me my wife was having the C section and they would update me as soon as they could.  At 7:14 my daughter was born.

Alexi gave out a cry and was rushed to the NICU (neonatal intensive care unti.)  Luckily for me, our room was on the way to the NICU and the nurses were kind enough to stop outside my door.  I'll never forget the feelings I had when one came in and said "would you like to see your daughter?"

There she was, more beautiful than I could describe.  I snapped the above picture at this exact moment.  Alexi.  Her name is Alexi.  While the NICU staff tended to Alexi, I was at my wife's side waiting for her to "come to."

As my wife regained her consciousness, one of the NICU doctors came in to talk to us.  She said Alexi was doing fine, and they believed the pleural effusion was going to be completely fixable.  "And I just want you to know there is a good chance she may have Down Syndrome."  And she continued to speak, but i didn't hear another word she said.

I was dumbfounded. I saw her, she was perfect.  This couldn't be.

In a letter to family and friends, I better explain the emotional roller coaster that followed, but the moment I laid eyes on her, I knew.  Down Syndrome wasn't an imperfection.  It was a part of her, a disability yes, just like being short is kind of a disability.  She was my perfectly unique little girl and life together was still gonna be awesome.