Saturday, May 5, 2012

Fear of Down Syndrome?

We all have a FEAR of the unknown. Down Syndrome should not be an unknown. I know I felt like I was drowning when we first got the diagnosis for our unborn son. I didn't know where to look to understand "Down Syndrome". I am so grateful for the internet. I was able to learn and understand. My fears started to evaporate.

The need for accurate information about Down Syndrome and other disabilities should be given to expectant parents by their medical providers. I understand that medical providers don't have a lot of extra time to give to this sort of thing. We did not get any real advice or support offered. We had to go out and find it on our own. It is really too bad there are not a couple of resources in each community that providers routinely refer expectant parents to before any big decisions are made.

But what about parents that don't seek out advise. They only have the info that they have gleaned from the media and exposure to people with Down Syndrome. I came across this article this morning. Most of it off topic, but why were these people "fearful" and "haunted"? What could have been done differently?

Salma Hayek feared she was carrying child with Down syndrome

Husband Francois-Henri Pinault reveals details in court during child support fight with supermodel Linda Evangelista

Movie star Salma Hayek was haunted during her difficult pregnancy by fears that her daughter Valentina might be born with Down syndrome.

Hayek’s billionaire husband revealed his wife’s up-till-now private agony Friday while testifying during his high stakes court battle over child support with supermodel Linda Evangelista.

“She was having a very difficult pregnancy,” Francois-Henri Pinault said of Hayek. “In fact, we were told the baby had Down syndrome until late May 2007.”

Pinault, who got Evangelista pregant during a four-month affair before he married Hayek, explained the tricky timing in Manhattan Family Court.

“I asked Linda to delay the legal recognition process (of son Augustin) until after the birth of Valentina,” he said. “It was a very difficult pregnancy. She almost lost the baby.”

Asked by Evangelista’s lawyer whether she agreed, Pinault answered “Yes.”

“Were you grateful?” asked attorney William Beslow.

“Yes,” the Frenchman replied.

Hayek was not in the courtroom to hear her ordeal laid bare

as Evangelista presses Pinault to cough up as much as $46,000-a-month in child support for 5-year-old Augustin.

Valentina was born syndrome-free and healthy in Sept. 2007 — almost a year after Augie.

The voluptuous actress, who became a mom at age 41, has spoken in the past about her difficult pregnancy, but not about the

frightening Down syndrome warning — which has prompted some parents to terminate their pregnancies.

Pinault’s revelation about his wife overshadowed the testimony of Evangelista, 46, who took the stand dressed to do battle in a white pencil skirt and python Christian Louboutin stilettos paired with a matching cream-colored Chanel bag.

Evangelista described how how she became one of the world’s most famous faces — and complained there’s “not a lot of demand” for her cat-walking services now.

“I won’t do it unless I’m paid in the area of $100,000,” she insisted.

Evangelista, who has graced more than 600 magazine magazines during her modeling career, says Augie needs armed bodyguards and a round-the-clock nanny.

She also wants Pinault to provide their son a home on par with the $12 million California mansion he put in a trust for his now 4-year-old Valentina.

Pinault, 49, also has two other children from a previous marriage.

While Evangelista is said to be worth $8 million, Pinault is the heir to a $11.5 billion family estate and presides over a fashion empire. He also blows dough like there’s no tomorrow on himself — but just pennies by comparison on Augie.

Under questioning by Beslow, Pinault admitted he spent $100,000 on a fancy watch for himself in 2010 but couldn’t remember what he spent on the “piano thing” he bought Augie for Christmas. He also couldn’t recall what he bought his son for his fourth birthday.

On Thursday, Beslow charged Pinault told Evangelista to get an abortion when she told him she was pregnant with Augie — a claim Pinault’s people hotly denied.

Pinault also suggested that Evangelista might have “taken steps” to get pregnant and his lawyer called the supermodel’s decision to take him to court “a classic case of someone trying to bootstrap herself into disguised alimony.”