How do you cope with possibly having a child with special needs and medical issues? Our baby has a 22q micro duplication. There is not a lot known and the symptoms can vary from none to autism, learning delays, trouble eating, hypotonia, etc. we are also currently dealing with a cystic hygroma and waiting to see if that clears up or if our baby possibly has heart defects. This is my first pregnancy and supposed to be the happiest time in my life. Now I am worried sick and don’t know how to even be happy or excited.

Also the bad news is the mutation most likely came from my husband or I, so any future pregnancies have a 50% chance of having this mutation. I don’t know how I could go through this again and now I feel like I have lost hope about getting excited for future children. We wanted to have at least 2 or 3. I’m just at a loss and feel like I am heading to a very dark place. I can’t believe this is happening to us. I’m also not very religious, so I don’t really take comfort that God has a plan for me.