Keeping Down's baby was "our best decision ever"

Reports the UK Telegraph:

Adkins and her husband Paul are just two of a growing number of parents who, on discovering their unborn child is likely to have Down's syndrome, go ahead with the pregnancy decide to keep babies with Down's syndrome.

Figures published on Monday by the National Down's Syndrome Cytogenetic Register found that live births of children with the condition have risen approximately 15 per cent from 2000 to 2006.

This rise has stunned experts, who had seen a steady drop in babies born with the syndrome since screening for the condition was introduced in 1989.

'We couldn't understand why there had been an increase,' says John Smithies of the Down's Syndrome Association. 'So we commissioned some research and found that things such as an increase in women leaving motherhood until later had an effect.

'But one of the biggest factors at play is people changing their attitudes. There is far more support, and advances in medicine mean that it is not uncommon for sufferers to live into their sixties.'

That certainly brightened my day!

Read the full article here.