Mama Always ~ L.A. Brown, Author

In January, it will be thirty years since my life changed. No, there was no traffic accident that marred me for life; no personal disaster such as a crippling disease; no death of a parent or loved one that so impacted me; no crime committed against me. No, a baby was born. Not your ordinary baby, but one who had gained my love and attention during the forty weeks while she was formed. During that forty weeks, I was able, through the miracle of technology, to hear her heartbeat and see her suck her thumb. My husband and I witnessed a miracle that we never thought would happen. On January 15, 1983, at 11:45 p.m., Andrea Michelle Lane was born. What we thought was a miracle quickly turned into the biggest challenge of my life and forever altered any dreams that I had for her. She was diagnosed with Down Syndrome, and sixteen hours later, the genetic markers were identified and we were hit with the confirmation. The pediatrician who was on duty came in and calmly and clinically proclaimed...

Let me tell you, they have not been entirely pleasant, either. Of course, there is the fact that I got to go overseas for the first time in my life to Okinawa to see my newborn granddaughter and my oldest granddaughter. That was amazing and I am totally in love....until the oldest started crying uncontrollably...then it was time for Grandma to beat feet, my baby Girl and Son-in-law were awesome, but beat feet I needed to do. Of course, the fact that my visit was over with anyway really wasn't the issue, I needed to get home to get Andrea. I left Andrea in Arizona to stay with mom and dad for basically two reasons: she doesn't have her passport yet and the Kid's apartment was pretty much too small for all of us as it was, add in Andrea and tempers might have flared, especially with a newborn at the helm. Pretty much it was OK for her, she was a help to mom who was having major troubles with her back, and she got to spend time with the Grandparents. I love my folks, they wo...

I got a phone call this morning from a good friend of mine. She had a call from a friend of hers who is pregnant. She just got the news that there's a 95% probability that the baby that she's carrying had Down Syndrome. My friend called to see if I would talk to this young woman. Absolutely! So, I called and spoke with this young mother who is dealing with the uncertainty of what she is about to experience. She spoke of the lifespan of her unborn daughter; does she have to have a c-section or can she give birth normally. What is she to expect? So, I started to tell her the story of my Mouse, Andrea. My pregnancy with Andrea was textbook. There wasn't a pregnancy symptom that I didn't have. I gained weight when I was supposed to; I had morning sickness when I was supposed to, everything was normal, there was zero reason to believe that there was even a little issue. All I gained was 21 pounds, nothing indicated problems. I had an ultrasound because the technology was...