{"id":254517,"date":"2021-10-07T16:43:46","date_gmt":"2021-10-07T21:43:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=254517"},"modified":"2021-10-06T21:17:01","modified_gmt":"2021-10-07T02:17:01","slug":"down-syndrome-blessing-hoped","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/down-syndrome-blessing-hoped\/","title":{"rendered":"Family of son with Down syndrome say he’s a blessing: ‘This is what we hoped for’"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

One Ohio family\u00a0learned firsthand<\/a> that having a child with Down syndrome is nothing to be afraid of.<\/p>\n

Jenny and Josh McGhee of Pickerington were surprised in 2020 to learn that they were expecting a baby \u2014 the couple’s older children, two daughters, were 15 and 10 at the time. “It is a really big age difference,” Alexandra told 10TV. “I’m 16 and he’s not even one.” Both Alexandra and 11-year-old Leilani were ecstatic nonetheless, as Leilani said she had always wanted a little brother.<\/p>\n

READ: Down syndrome families fight to end discriminatory abortion<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

When Jenny McGhee was around four months pregnant, she was surprised when she received a call from her doctor as she was planning a gender reveal party. She initially thought he was calling to tell her the baby’s gender, when her sister was supposed to be the only one finding out before the party. \u201cI said don\u2019t tell me what the gender is,” she said. “I thought that\u2019s what he was calling me for. That\u2019s when he said ‘OK, but I was actually calling to tell you something else.'”<\/p>\n

But what Jenny learned next changed her life forever. Her doctor told her that prenatal testing strongly suggested that baby Giovanni had Down syndrome, or Trisomy 21. Josh said he went numb when he found out, though Jenny grieved. “I mean, it was devastating in the beginning,” she said. “We didn\u2019t know much about what Down syndrome was.\u00a0I didn\u2019t know what Trisomy 21 meant. I started googling and it was probably not the best thing to do.”<\/p>\n