On March 25th, 2011 at 2:38 p.m. in the afternoon, during an emergency Caesarean section, my son, Robert Alan Pickering III (Trip for short) was born. The pediatrician that tended to my son after he was born came into the Labor and Recovery room to give me the great news that my wife was fine and that my son was “clinically fine”. I wasn’t able to be with my wife and son at his birth, because my wife had to be put under a general anesthesia, and I was told I was not allowed in the operating room as a result.
The pediatrician then said to me words that I will never forget, “But I have some bad news, your son appears to have Down syndrome.” I steadied myself next to the bed, the nurse and pediatrician thought I was going to collapse, good luck catching me if I did. I didn’t. I asked how he knew, he stated that he had observed several of the physical characteristics consistent with Down syndrome.
My son is beautiful and the joy of my life. This will be the only post here on my main blog about the journey that he, my wife, and I will be taking. If you’d like to read more about it, you can, on my new blog: My Son has Down Syndrome. There isn’t much there at this time, but I wanted to post this as close to his birth day as possible. This blog will continue to be focused on technology and the other passions in my life, but I now have a new passion and I hope you join me there as well.
Thanks for reading this.
-Rob
Update 20170716:
Additional Down syndrome resources: