October 18th, 2017

Myth: Older women have babies with Down syndrome.
Fact: The average age of mothers with children that have Down syndrome is closer to 30 than 40!!
The simple fact is that more women in the 20-35 bracket have children, so it makes sense that a larger proportion of those women will have a baby with Down syndrome.
I was 32 when Emma was born. Not old by any standard! My chance of having another baby with Down syndrome is a bit higher - one because when I get pregnant again I will be older, but also because my body has carried a pregnancy to term that had a chromosomal anomaly. It is thought that only 30% of pregnancies with a chromosomal anomaly make it past the first few weeks. The body recognises that the pregnancy is ‘different’ and may not support it. A lot of miscarriages are thought to be the result of chromosomal anomalies, and there is also a huge rate of termination worldwide for these anomalies.... so my body recognised that Emma is fucking fabulous and that the world would be enhanced by her presence and she stuck.
She’s certainly one in a billion!
💙💛💙💛

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