My Kids Are Alive Because Their Dad Fought For Them

When I was just 17 years old and pregnant with my third child, the doctor diagnosed my baby with Down syndrome. I already had two other kids and could not imagine having a baby with a disability, straining my thin resources even further. When I told my son’s father — my now-husband — that the doctor recommended abortion, he immediately spoke up and said, “No. That is not an option. I guess we are having a baby with Down syndrome.”

Unlike Jesse Ridgeway, a YouTuber who blasted his decision to end the life of his unborn baby, who was diagnosed with Down syndrome, all over the internet, my son’s father stepped up and fought for his child. 

This wasn’t even the first time the father of my children demonstrated the real meaning of fatherhood. 

I had my first baby when I was only 15 years old. Seeing that initial ultrasound shot a wave of terror through me and I knew there was no way I could make it work. I was a child myself.