When People Ask Me How Many Children I Have, I Don't Know What To Say

“I have five children—and each of them has stolen my heart—but only four are here with us,” says Shannon Klingman. “So I have to decide: Do I say four and move on? Or do I say five and share Amy’s story?”

- Amy Paturel

Six years ago, Shannon Klingman was thrilled by a surprise pregnancy. Already mom to Bennett, then 12, Julia, 5, and Jonah, 4, she had been at home in Minnesota since leaving her medical practice in 2009. She also crafted handmade soaps for a small business she started with her dad. “There was something magical about our life at that time,” says Shannon. “We spent our days playing with the kids, baking and making lavish dinners. Everything was a science project, and I was really enjoying feathering my nest.”

Shannon and her husband, Evan Griffiths, also an obstetrician, decided to have genetic testing done. But when Evan came home with the results, “I knew by the look on his face that something was wrong,” says Shannon. “He told me the baby was a girl, and that she had Down syndrome.”

Such news would have shattered many parents — but not Shannon. “I’d always been drawn to children with special needs,” she says. At 9, she regularly helped out a neighborhood mom who had a 5-year-old son with Down syndrome, and as a teen she worked with a Girl Scout troop made up of kids with Down syndrome, cerebral palsy and other emotional and physical special needs. They embraced their future and named their baby-to-be Amy Jane.

The couple decided to build a new home in a rural area with enough space for Shannon’s parents. “We knew we would need the help, and we wanted to create a haven where we could control Amy’s environment,” says Shannon. “We couldn’t wait to raise her.”