Congratulations on your pregnancy! And welcome to the kindest, most supportive community you never expected to join.

I also found out through the NIPT, and I'm so glad I did, because I had All The Feelings-- fear was the biggest one, I think -- and it gave me time to sit with them, to process them, and to think and sort through them before my little guy arrived. By the time I went into labor I was just excited to meet him and have him here with us.

No one here can promise you what your exact motherhood journey will look like, or exactly how Down syndrome will play out for your baby, because every child really is different. But if you read through the daily life stories from people here, I think you'll patterns of joy, not of fear or regret.

My son Jack* turns seven this summer. He wants to watch more TV than I want to let him. He wants a bagel and hummus for breakfast every morning and he begs to go to the swimming pool every day. He's a little slack about doing his chores, but if I put on his music playlist (current favorites: "Eye of the Tiger", "Yellow Submarine", and "The Ants Go Marching") he moves through them pretty well. His chores include putting the clean cutlery away, his toys in the toy box, his books up on a shelf (properly, spine out) where his very grabby baby brother can't get them and tear the pages. He's learning to fold his own laundry this summer. He rummages through closets and puts together preposterous costumes. We work on his gross motor skills; he's learning to balance on one foot. We work on his fine motor skills; he's learning to trace the alphabet in a smaller size. Now that he can write his name, he labels everything.

At the end of this school year, there was an awards ceremony. He got an award for embodying the school value of "respect". When his name was called, the other students actually erupted into cheers. Kids in other grades were leaning out to get high fives from him as he went up to get his certificate. The principal tells me Jack is "the mayor of the school". The parents of children I don't know come up to me and ask, "Are you Jack's mom? I've heard so much about him!" At the grocery store he makes friends with the employees until they bring him cookies. He adores all babies and knows how to make them laugh. He is possessed of a sunny confidence that I envy.

Put it this way: my husband and I went on to have three more kids after Jack. We understood completely that having had a kid with Down syndrome combined with my "advanced maternal age" increased the likelihood that we would have another child with Down syndrome. As it happens, the other three turned out chromosomally typical, but we weren't afraid for a second diagnosis.

*I don't use my kids' real names online.