随着北京冬奥会在不到三个月的时间里拉开帷幕，三届奥运会奖牌得主、两届女子雪橇世界冠军埃拉娜梅耶斯泰勒正在刻苦训练。当她准备主要活动时，她也优先考虑和她的小男孩尼科共度美好时光，去年她和丈夫兼奥运选手尼克泰勒一起迎接了他。泰勒说，杂耍表演是她一直看到自己在做的事情。
泰勒说，我一直知道我想玩雪橇，当妈妈。我想要一个家庭，想要一个大家庭。但是当我成为雪橇运动员的时候，就像是'好吧，我什么时候可以这样做？我什么时候可以开始这段旅程？''
因为她从未有过正常的月经周期——这总是被归因于她是一名运动员——医生告诉她，她可能很难怀孕。2018年，她想开始尝试，但因为她仍在竞争，她无法接受医生提供的激素疗法。她和尼克选择尝试没有他们，一年后，他们怀孕了。泰勒回忆说，我是在我们还在训练的时候发现的，整个孕期我都在继续训练。
RELATED: 4有特殊需求孩子的父母给她的人生教训她经历了她所谓的相当标准的怀孕，伴随着孕吐和"所有人都有的有趣症状",但她也被诊断出羊水过多——也就是说婴儿周围有太多羊水——这意味着她在怀孕期间必须去看专家。2020年2月，当泰勒出生36周的时候，她的医生表达了对婴儿不能像以前那样活动的担忧，泰勒被诱导了。
"他在新生儿重症监护病房呆了几天，然后，我们把他带回家，"泰勒回忆道，他现在在亚特兰大。正是在NICU，他被诊断出患有唐氏综合征。他在新生儿重症监护病房也没有通过新生儿听力筛查这些是泰勒一家将走上他们所谓的不同道路的最初迹象。
与此同时，疫情刚刚开始。一旦我们
eft the NICU, they had the first COVID case in Georgia in that hospital," says Taylor. "So immediately everything shut down."
She and her husband brought their newborn boy home and found support online. For instance, the couple began working with GiGi's Playhouse, an organization that helps facilitate early intervention therapies that babies with Down syndrome need to help them thrive. GiGi's Playhouse also pays for the therapeutic appointments, and as individuals age, helps facilitate tutoring in school, resume-building, and job placement.
Taylor was also able to connect with other parents of children with Down syndrome through social media. "It's been huge to have a virtual community," she notes.
- RELATED: 13 Facts About Down Syndrome That Parents Should Know
Connecting with other parents was very much a part of Taylor's game plan for addressing her son's special needs—as was thinking like an athlete and asking herself, "What do we need to do next? What's the action plan?"
As it turns out, physical and occupational therapy has been a major part of the plan for Nico. "We started with the program Babies Can't Wait, which is a Georgia state-run program, and we have a physical therapist named Martha who's virtual, and she has been absolutely amazing the entire time," notes Taylor, who has also worked with an occupational speech therapy organization called Building Blocks in Atlanta. "The coolest thing is that all of our therapists have been able to accommodate and work with my training and travel schedule as well."
In turn, Nico has come a long way, reports the proud mom. "He's already saying 'Mama' and 'Dada,' and this is with only five to six months of having cochlear implants," says Taylor.
He's also become a "social butterfly," she notes. "We just got back from China," says Taylor. "During the trip, he learned to wave, and now he's so social and smiles at people. That's been really fun to see and to witness especially because after his diagnosis, we weren't sure what we would get from a communication standpoint, but since his implants, it's really been eye-opening to see his transformation."
Finding the best ways to support Nico has only served to strengthen Taylor's relationship with her husband who she calls "one of the most positive people" she's ever met. "When he heard Nico's diagnosis, it didn't even come close to phasing him," says Taylor. "He never cared. For him, it's like, 'OK, the diagnosis is Down syndrome. But there's a whole range of abilities within Down syndrome. We're gonna have to raise him to be happy and healthy and see what he wants to do and see where he leads us.' On my hard days, where we're going to multiple therapies and we're training hard, his positive energy really keeps me afloat."
- RELATED: How I Shared My Child's Down Syndrome Diagnosis and Found My Village
As Taylor prepares to head to the 2022 Olympic Winter Games, she's often asked if Nico is going to follow in her footsteps. But what she wants is far simpler—and perhaps even more powerful. "The biggest thing I want as a parent is to raise a happy, happy, healthy child," says Taylor. "Our expectation is to go out there and give Nico the best life possible. And I think that's the expectation we should all have."
She says that even if parents are in the midst of getting a diagnosis of Down syndrome for their child, "there's still so much beauty to be had in this life and so much joy you will have with your child, regardless of the diagnosis." It's a message she's committed to getting out there. "We have a great life, and I wouldn't change Nico for one second."
For additional opportunities to catch up with some of the Olympic hopefuls, head over to Reddit's Olympic and Paralympic Ask Me Anything Series on Thursdays.
To learn more about all the Olympic hopefuls, visit TeamUSA.org. Watch the Winter Olympics, beginning February 3 on NBC.
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