My Family

My husband and I just found out the my infant daughter will be born with down's syndrome.  This is our first child and my husband's English is not so good yet.  He was born in Nigeria and we've only been married for two years.  The doctors say they will not know the level of her abilities until she is born but gave us some information and options for services.  They told us to expect poor muscle tone, delayed development, speech delays, some distortion in her features such as slanted eyes, small ears, short neck, and a small head.  They say there are therapists who will be able to help us but there are fees.  My husband works two jobs and I work part time as a waitress so I do not have any benefits, but through my husband's jobs we manage to make ends meet and have a small savings.  I'm not sure where to go for childcare once the baby is born because we need all the money we can get for therapists and services for our child.  I don't think we can afford for me to be a stay at home mom right now.  I was planning on starting school once the baby was in childcare but now I'm not sure I can do that now with all of the financial obligations we will have.  We will need to have early intervention services available through an agency in our state.  From what we have gathered, we will need speech therapists, physical therapists and will work will physicians for any health concerns.  She may have a low resistance to infection and a possible heart defect.  We have more options than we first knew of and have to take them all into consideration for the best outcome for our child.