She was born with a piercing cry that rang throughout the delivery room, and cheers soon followed as her family welcomed her into the world.

“Give me her,” Qian Li panted, tears of happiness running down her sweat covered face. She weakly held out her arms, waving her hand for the midwife to hand her new baby girl to her. “Give me my sweet daughter.”

“Our, daughter,” chuckled Byunghee with a smile, standing next to his girlfriend’s side.

Around the joyous couple came several congratulatory pats on the backs, words of encouragement, and blessings for their new baby, but even so neither of the new parents paid any mind to anything. Their eyes were glued to where the nurse stood at the little table cleaning off their daughter, talking in hushed voices; taking much longer than necessary to bring them their daughter. 

“What are you doing? Stop dawdling and bring me my baby!” Qian Li said, her voice growing impatient.

“Qian Li, I think she’s – “ Byunghee tried to say in a gentle voice, bringing the harsh reality of the situations; but Qian Li refused to hear it.

It seemed like an eternity passed before the nurse finally turned around with the pink bundle in her arms, a hesitant smile reserved on her face. Each step she took felt like a clock tick in time, and Byunghee felt his heartbeat quicken when she finally lowered the baby into Qian Li’s arms. No words needed to be spoken, the truth was before them; cold, hard reality.

Qian Li stared down at her daughter with cold eyes, furrowing her brows together and shaking her head in disbelief.

“No, no, this can’t be true. She isn’t – why is she – “

Byunghee felt his heart drop to his stomach at her reaction, and carefully took the baby from her arms where he got a better look at his daughter. She was so tiny and pink, her little eyes closed and little breathes coming from her bitty nose. But with every delicately beautiful feature that God had graced the precious baby with, there was no denying that she was not right.

“Your daughter has been born with Down Syndrome,” The nurse informed them in a hushed voice. A loud sob filled the air, but Byunghee could not find it in him to break his gaze away from his little girl to comfort Qian Li.

“Get it out of here! That’s not my baby, it’s not!” Qian Li sobbed hysterically, shaking her head back and forth.

“She’s our baby,” Byunghee mumbled.

He stood outside of the infantry room, watching through the glass window as she slept peacefully in her bed, blissfully unaware of the direness of her life. The doctor had been to see them an hour early after examining their daughter, explaining to them what Down Syndrome really was and how it would affect their lives, and their daughter’s. She would be relatively healthy, but it was a given for heart problems; that did not necessarily mean she was going to live a long life, nor one as full as any other child born normally. Personally, Byunghee believed him to be wrong. God made her like this, this was His plan, and she was perfect the way she was.

He just wished that Qian Li would see that, but his beloved girlfriend could not see past the flaws their daughter was born with. In fact, she denied the baby all together.

“Sir, would you like to hold your daughter? I assure you that she is in fine condition,” One of the midwives said, standing at the door to the infantry. Her eyes bored into his, and he could easily read the urgency and longing in them.

Don’t give up on this baby.

He didn’t plan on it, and not once had that thought ever crossed his mind. With a curt nod, he followed the woman into the infantry to where his daughter laid sleeping.

“Now, be sure that you support her head when you hold her. One arm under her, there you go,” The midwife said, beaming proudly as Byunghee picked up his daughter, careful not to wake her from her slumber.

The second time felt just as magnificent as the first, and holding her in his arms just felt right, like this was the way things were supposed to be. He couldn’t see Down Syndrome, all he could see was this adorable little face, black tuffs of soft hair, and her little fingers peeking out from the pink blanket she was wrapped in. This was not Down Syndrome, this was his daughter, and he was her father.

“What’s her name?” The midwife asked quietly, smiling at Byunghee. He looked like every new father – completely in awe, but scared less.

“Oh, a name. That’s right,” Byunghee said, frowning slightly.

They’d talked about names since day one, spent countless hours scouring over baby name books and researching online what the trending names of the year were. Qian Li had great expectations for their child, she wanted to show off her child to the world and be the greatest mother with the most precious daughter, and the name had to live up to that.

“My girlfriend had chosen a name, Li Chun. I think we need to talk it over first,” Byunghee answered lightly. Because right now, he didn’t even know if this child was going to be acknowledged by her own mother.

The midwife hummed, her eyes holding another secret meaning. She’d been a midwife for many years and helped hundreds of expecting women deliver their babies; this certainly had not been the first time a baby with a birth defect had been born and rejected by it’s parents. Still, she had hope that this one would be different, because she could see something in Byunghee’s eyes that she did not see often in parents during these sorts of situation: affection.

“Well, please do not hesitate for too long, or else the doctor is going to have to put ‘Baby No. ___’ whichever number birth she was today. Trust me, I’ve seen that happen more than a few times, and those parents had to pay a hefty fine to change their child’s name,” The midwife chuckled, earning a small smile from Byunghee.

“For now, I just want to hold her,” He said softly, bringing his hand up to gently her cheek. Her skin was so soft and smooth, as if she were made of warm silk. His touch must’ve been cold, because just a second later she scrunched up her face with a whimper. From there she opened and let out the loudest, dolphin pitched wail that Byunghee had ever heard.

The midwife laughed at his surprise and patted his arm, bustling through the room and beckoning him to follow.

“The dear is probably hungry, she hasn’t been fed by her mother yet. Sit, sit,” She said, waving her hand towards a rocking chair in the corner, and Byunghee sat obediently, patting his daughter’s back soothingly. “Now, it’s best for newborns to eat only colostrums mi