While pregnant, most expectant mothers envision what their child will be like. They dream of a healthy baby with ten fingers and ten toes, who perhaps has their blue eyes or their husband's perfect nose. But when that doesn't happen and the baby born is less than "perfect," it can be devastating. For young mothers who learn that their child has Down Syndrome, a chromosomal condition commonly attributed to older mothers, it can also come as a shock.

"You initially think, ‘there can be nothing worse right now,'" said Rachel Smith, 26, whose son, Stockton, 3, was born with Down Syndrome. "You have thoughts that you're not very proud of."

While older mothers do have a statistically higher risk of giving birth to a child with Down Syndrome (at age 20, the risk is 1 in 2,000; by age 45 it's 1 in 30), younger women give birth to the majority - more than 80 percent - of babies with the condition. According to the National Down Syndrome Society, there are about 6,000 babies born each year with Down Syndrome, and the overall risk is about 1 in every 700 births.  The condition is typically caused by an extra or partial copy of chromosome 21 and results in traits like low muscle tone, an upward slant of the eyes and intellectual disabilities.

Older mothers, knowing their risks, may prepare for the possibility. But younger mothers may be shocked when they learn their baby has the condition. "I never imagined it, ever," said Tera Stacey, 24, who lives on Joint Base Lewis-McChord.

With two healthy daughters (Portlynn, 4, and Maddalyn, 3,) already, Stacey was expecting another healthy baby when pregnant with her third child, son Jarod, now 1. But when doctors brought her newborn to her following a C-section, his face covered with a blanket, "I knew right away something was wrong," she said. "He didn't look like I had envisioned." A karyotype test confirmed Down Syndrome when Jarod was 9 days old.

Smith was also surprised to learn her baby had Down Syndrome. While pregnant, she learned that Stockton had a heart condition (and knew heart problems were common in Down Syndrome babies), but "I thought it wasn't going to happen," she said. "The heart problem was my biggest worry."

The diagnosis can be difficult at first. "You love your child, but you almost mourn the loss of a child," said Smith, whose husband, Capt. Stirling Smith, is a doctor at Madigan. "Everything you think, imagine him as is gone."

"Almost everyone with a Down Syndrome baby experiences a sense of sorrow, a sense of grief," said Kathleen Knorr, a clinical social worker at the Department of Developmental Pediatrics at the Madigan Healthcare System. "But it's not all gloom and doom. Once (parents) begin to understand, they can see there are lots of positive outcomes."

After a few days, "you begin to realize you're going to be fine," said Smith. "This isn't the end of the world."

Having a special needs child also changes your perspective, she said. "Maybe (his) being on the basketball team isn't what's important in life. It makes me a better mom."

Now, Smith said, she wouldn't change a thing. "All special needs kids have challenges," she said. "But the benefit and beauty outweighs the challenges."

For more information, visit www.ndss.org or the South Sound Parent to Parent website at http://ssp2p.org, which offers local resources, support groups and information.