We have Chiqui for 2 years and 4 months now... 2 years of happiness and struggle!! Our life before Chiqui came was somewhat predictable since all 4 of her siblings were already big and all that's left for the kids were to graduate and find a job.
I was already 42 years old when I gave birth to Chiqui while my husband was 48 ... We were supposed to be in the stage of "slow down a little and take a breath.. stop pushing!" Two of my kids were already finishing.
They were the older ones who are already in college. The other two is in high school and elementary.
It was a big surprised for the whole family when I learned I was pregnant. It was a mixed of excitement and anticipation. Though, during the 7th month I experienced gestational diabetes. My sugar was easily corrected for the doctor advised me to inject insulin everyday coupled with diet to ensure it will never go beyond normal again.
We were expecting chiqui on the second week of july of 2009 but my bag broke up on june 22, few weeks before my expected date.She was delivered through Caesarean section because she was in a breech position. During the delivery i was half awake.. i can hear the shouts and cries of other moms delivering their babies too.. i can hear laughter, singing voices probably of the nurses and doctors as they helped me. Then,at around 11:51 pm i heard it clearly, " oi... ka sayang sa baby, mongoloid..!" (what a pity, the baby is mongoloid (down syndrome)). In my heart and in my thoughts, i prayed so hard that "God, please let it not be my baby, I am not the only one giving birth here, please make it not my baby!" i said it over and over again while drifting back and forth to being awake and fallen asleep. I was brought back again to being aware of what was happening around me when i was wheeled now to my room around 4 am....
Later that day, the pedia resident visited and asked me what i knew of about my baby.. I told him, "My baby is DS". i dont know if he was just pretending not to understand what DS means but he insisted on asking What's the meaning of it, and were my OB and Pedia Consultant already told me about it. Nobody told me, i just overheard it! Down Syndrome--- really, my baby is DS!!! When he left i cried because the fear that i was trying to hide, the fear that i was trying to rationalize, the fear that it was really my baby was TRUE.. it was indeed my baby!!
