It was one of the first things our midwife noticed upon examination after he was born, and one of the things that led her to suggest that he might have Down syndrome. I still remember her pointing them out to me and gently suggesting that I ask our pediatrician about them. I had never heard of this characteristic before that moment, and it never crossed my mind that the creases in palms might vary from person to person. I certainly didn't know that it is a fairly common characteristic of Down syndrome.
Just today, I discovered that Kevin has a single crease across one of his palms.
I was shocked, firstly that in almost 12 1/2 years I had never before noticed, and secondly that he shares this unusual trait with his brother. I am finding it strangely comforting, a sign that they are connected on some deep level.
I checked all the other children's hands, and none of them besides Finn and Kevin have this.
16 comments:
wow, that's really interesting! Our Bennett does not have the single crease- first thing I looked for. He does have the sandle toe though. That is really cool that they share that!
Reid and his daddy...both share a simian crease. Toby noticed it a few days after Reid was born. :)
That IS pretty cool. I have to check Rainer in the morning. Although, Georgia doesn't have them! She DOES have crooked pinkies though. I love them!
That's cool! Matthew and his grandpa both share the simian crease on both hands - one of the reasons why I didn't believe that Matthew had Down syndrome after he was born.
Amazing!!!
I remember a few weeks after Benjamin was born I suddenly got this irrational fear that Andrew (age 2.5) might have DS and I just never detected it. (Yeah, right.) So I frantically ran up to him and threw open both of his palms. (As if that would tell...) Anyway, nothing there. I laugh at myself now, but then, in that moment, I was wild woman.
That picture is great of Finn's hands. I've never seen it so clearly. Morgan doesn't have it either. That is a neat connection between your boys.
Now I can't wait for the kids to get up so I can check their hands! Simeon has it in only one hand.
Thats so cool - genetic variation at its best! I love that it ties the two boys together!
That's very interesting! And look at his crooked pinky...my mom and brother both have crooked pinky's just like that.
They pointed this out to me in the delivery room. Oz has simian creases across both hands. I had actually heard about this before - I had come across this little bit of trivia at some point in my life, but I had never actually seen it before until Oz was born. And it was so neat, and such a striking visual, that I immediately thought of the design for the logo on my blog. That was the very first thing I did when I had a free moment - I came home, wrote those first few blog entries (on paper), and created that logo. Most people would never know what it means - but I'm betting almost every parent in the DS world instantly recognizes its significance.
how cool is that?!
I have been researching my famiily for simian creases as well, lol.
I remember looking at Luke's hands during that first night when I knew something was not quite 'right'. He had one crease on one hand and two on the other. So I was thinking "Is that bad or good??" Not much comfort really at the time, but now I know why! LOL!
This is Joyce. I wrote about this today. I can't believe I did not know about this - well as you will read John says we were told - I am really intrigued by these little things that many of the kiddos share.
That is really cool!!! Kennedy doesn't have the simian crease. I wish she did!
Hi I'm Amy, I've never read your blog before but came across Joyce's post on Sarah's Class of 2008 site...
When our youngest daughter was born with Ds, the doctor's showed me how she had a single crease across each hand (along with almost every other marker) and this is how they new they needed to do a Chromosome test.
But I never knew that other people could have this as well, I thought it was only associated with Ds. So after reading the two blogs this morning I realized I'd never really "checked" my other two daughters hands, and my 5 year old has it on one hand!!! Who knows how long it would have taken me to notice that, but I just showed her how one of her hands is the same as her little sister's and she was SO excited!! :)
Thanks for this sweet post!!
So when Marissa was first suspected oh having DS we read that's one of the characteristics of Downs, among others of course. We couldn't find one and assumed this meant she didn't have DS & the doctors were wrong.
Well, after all the blood work came back she was diagnosed w/ DS and the lack of the simian crease was forgotten...until your post.
Well, 9 mo. later there's still no simian crease. :-) I was going to take a picture similar to yours and there's just nothing there. hehe. Just thought that was interesting. Ah well. Love the pict!
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