What Is Down Syndrome? ... Some Biology, by Mom

For those of you who are not familiar with Down Syndrome, it was named after Dr. Down who discovered it.

There was nothing we did or did not do that could have prevented it, as it is the result of an extra chromosome, usually showing up in the 21st pair of chromosomes ("trisomy 21" Down Syndrome) as a result of them sticking together during the meiosis process. They don't know what causes them to stick together. Usually there are 46 chromosomes in each cell of our bodies. Chromosomes come in 23 pairs with 1 member of each pair donated by each parent via the sperm (father) or the egg cell (mother).

There are 3 different types of Down Syndrome, differing mainly in where the extra chromosome shows up. "Trisomy 21" D.S. accounts for 95% of the cases. For those who would be interested in learning more about D.S., the book which we are reading now is very informative-- "Babies with Down Syndrome, A New Parents' Guide" by a variety of authors, edited by Karen Stray-Gundersen.