Meet Bohannon, a three year old who is rocking that extra chromosome like a boss.

Some words from Bo’s mom:

Becoming pregnant was quite the surprise for our family. Although Bohannon’s dad, Elan and I had been together for over six years when we found out, we had no intention on becoming pregnant any time soon. We were happy though, we always knew we wanted kids one day. Half way through the pregnancy they asked us if we wanted the testing done to find out if our baby had Down Syndrome. I brought the question home to Elan and we both decided we didn’t want it done because it didn’t matter to us either way. After I told the doctor it was out of our mind, I never thought about again until after a very long difficult birth. 

There were a handful of complications. After four failed epidurals, with one hitting my Dural causing damage…sixty-four hours later Bohannon was coming ready or not! I was not dilated all the way and he was coming. This caused his heart rate to drop so they rushed us to an emergency C-section. This also did not go as planned, they had waited too long and had to cut horizontal and vertical and still had to pull him out by his feet! Luckily Bohannon and I were fine after all that excitement. About three hours later I was awake and holding my beautiful baby boy. I had complications from the birth that was making it difficult for me to sit up and really be able to spend time with him. So for the next couple of hours we both just resting, until the doctor who did my C-section came back into our room. 

This was the moment that changed our lives forever. This woman came in very unprofessionally and just spouted out all these reasons why they believed our son had Down syndrome. “He has small slanted eyes” she said. We thought, okay so does his mother and father. “He has a crease down the middle of his hand that goes all the way across” she said. I looked down at my hands and thought well so do I. She went on in a fast chipper voice telling us all these reasons and just turned around and walked out. I just laid there in shock not really responding and Elan was furious. I mean who was this woman coming into our room and turning our life upside down?

There wasn’t any time to have any sort of real emotions though. More doctors came in and threw so much information at us about his health and what we needed to do, my head was spinning. I needed to be cared for as well, so we both got transferred to a different hospital. Thank goodness we did too, our experience at this next hospital was much better.  I was released from the hospital after a week and had to go home to get better so I could fight for my son. It took me almost an entire week after that of not feeling much of anything and I was just in a funk. If it wasn’t for the love for my son I doubt I would have finally snapped out of it and decided that this is just what we do now. We were very fortunate that Bohannon was only in the NICU for two weeks and has had very minimal health problems from day one. He was on oxygen for the first month of his life and he has had two surgeries; clogged tear duct and he has had his adenoids removed and tubes put in his ears. We have eight doctors we see for follow ups or precautions but this is just part of our life now. Bohannon has also been in early intervention since he was two months old and we are currently making the transition to preschool. Bohannon has four therapists; Speech, Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, and Teacher. He also attends a playgroup that was recommended by the therapists.

Bohannon is an amazing kid. I hold the same standards and expectations for him as I would for any typical child and he blows my mind every single day with how he matches those expectations. He is a toddler who loves music and wants to observe every little thing to try and figure it out. When he walks in the room you cannot help but to smile and be filled with happiness. 

 I never really knew what I was supposed to do in life but then Bohannon surprised us and made it so very clear that he was my purpose. That I was put here so he could share his strength, joy and love with you all.

Oh, the places you will go, Bohannon!

It was a pleasure to do a special photo session with some kiddos from Western New York who have Down syndrome for the third year in a. row. I am hoping to spread awareness locally on messages of acceptance and beauty to individuals with Down Syndrome.

Our local news station aired the story last year to shine a beautiful light on our photo shoot experience. You can watch the story here.

BETHANY CHASE PHOTOGRAPHY IS A TRUSTED AND EXPERIENCED PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHER IN ROCHESTER NY THAT CREATES CUSTOM NEWBORN PHOTOGRAPHY, MATERNITY PHOTOGRAPHY, BABY PHOTOGRAPHY, CHILD PHOTOGRAPHY AND FAMILY PHOTOGRAPHY EXPERIENCES FOR CLIENTS ALL ACROSS THE AREA. BETHANY CHASE PHOTOGRAPHY CURRENTLY SERVES, BUT IS NOT LIMITED TO THE FOLLOWING NEW YORK AREAS: ROCHESTER, WEBSTER, PENFIELD, PITTSFORD, BRIGHTON, PERINTON, FAIRPORT, HENRIETTA, SPENCERPORT, GATES, CHILI, IRONDEQUOIT, GREECE, CHURCHVILLE, MENDON.

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