A parent discovers their child, Easton, will have Down syndrome during pregnancy. They mourn the loss of their envisioned child and face fears about the future. Easton faces health challenges at birth and requires oxygen for three months. The family joins Little Light House (LLH), where they realize their lack of knowledge but feel immense love and support. They are grateful for LLH’s safe environment and express heartfelt thanks.
We discovered that Easton would have Down syndrome when I was six months pregnant. From then, it was a whirlwind of emotion; you don’t realize how much you plan your child’s life before they’re here. And the moment you become pregnant, you ask yourself, “Who will they be? What are they going to like?”
You think about what your future child will be like, and then you find out that the child you’ve had in your head is not the child you’re going to have. You mourn the loss of that child. I knew nothing about Down syndrome. I was walking into it blindly, which was the scariest part, so much unknown. What’s his future going to be like? How are people going to treat him? Is he going to be able to talk to me? Is he going to be able to walk? Is he going to have heart problems?
Easton was born two weeks early and had a two-week stay in the ER before he came home. He had to be on oxygen so his lungs could fully develop. For three months after he was born, he had to stay on oxygen, and he had his pulse ox monitor to let us know if he stopped breathing. I was confined to this little area in my living room with Easton. I couldn’t take him into the kitchen. I couldn’t take him into the bathroom. I couldn’t take him anywhere. We were stuck in one spot for three months.
We got Easton on the waiting list when he was four months old. He was on the Wait List for almost three years until we got the call that he could attend. When he started coming to LLH is when I realized how much I didn’t know. I bought a book when I was pregnant, and I was like, “I’m going to read this book, and hopefully, I’m going to know everything I need to know.” That is not at all what happened. I came to LLH, and people said, ” your child needs orthotics, and I would say, “Come again, what are orthotics?” I didn’t realize how much I didn’t know.
The Little Light House is the happiest place on earth. You walk into this place, and you feel God’s presence. It’s a place where a parent doesn’t have to worry about sending their child. To think about how when he is six, he does have to go somewhere else. Thinking, “Will they love him as everybody at LLH does?” “Is he going to be safe?” “Is he going to be taken care of?” And you know that at LLH, the answer to those questions is yes. You know that your child is so loved by the people that work here.
It means a lot to a parent to feel like their child is safe when they go to school; it means the world to us parents. Thank you, Little Light House.
Written by Easton’s Mom