We're back from our mini week in Burgundy and Normandie and and oh how the belly has expanded. New clothes I showed off to my friend Dee, bragging that they were so cute and not at all like maternity clothes just barely fit now. I only wore them once. Oh well, I figure that the post pregnancy bulge lasts just as long as pre pregnancy so I'll at least have something to wear then. I'll have to put them in the placard for later.
The second trimester arrived yesterday and I am so relieved. I'm finally past the tired, sloggy, ill stage and I have energy! Three months of no energy is a real eye opener. You begin to see how hard it must be to be really ill. I could barely function and I honestly don't know how people hold down jobs during the first trimester. I think I'd be caught sleeping in my car at 4 o'clock.
Seb and I had some time to discuss the amnio and we have more or less decided not to do it based on the very supportive Nuchal Fold results we received at the last ultrasound. It's such a personal decision that I won't get too far into it but I know that we'd just rather not take risks for the sake of information that we may not even take into consideration. We realize that raising a child with Down syndrome is probably an awesome responsibility that we might not be very good at and we also realize that we may even have a child who never makes it to birth at all, or at best survives only a little beyond birth, but these are realities that for now we are willing to face. Given that we are open to this I don't see the point in taking the risk of the amnio. At least those are our conclusions so far. This is a really hard decision to make and maybe I'll end up changing my mind.
Our talk in the car on the two hour drive home from Lyon centered around the realities of raising a handicapped child and how we might handle something like that. Ironically when I got home and turned on the computer The New York Times, my home page, featured two videos yesterday about raising children with Down syndrome and the effects of more and more genetic testing being offered to pregnant women. Oddly enough it was more or less the conversation we'd been having. The videos are interesting in that they show the more human side of the issue by putting a face to the children. Check them out.
About Me
- christine
- Formation: Bachelor Degree in Humanities and World Religious – Université de Floride (1999) Associate of Arts degree – St Petersburg College de Floride (1997) Certificat TEFL (Teaching of English as a Second Language) - (2001)
2 comments:
My father's oldest sister was born in 1913 with spina bifida. The doctor told my grandmother not to get too close to her because she was going to die. And she did, 70 years later. She went to school, married and loved all of her 36 nieces & nephews. She sewed beautiful clothes for all of us.
When my sister was pregnant with her second child she was receiving charity care. Because of the family history of spina bifida, amnio was required. My sister tried to refuse because she said she would not abort under any circumstances, but was told that if she didn't have it she could not stay in the charity program.
Everything was fine and that child will be attending her senior prom tomorrow night.
Thanks for sharing that story Kathy. I'm glad your neice is okay. I've been reading a lot of stories about genetic disorders and they are sad and horrifying because of the decision the women have to make about terminating their pregnancies. It's a terrible place to be. One woman described it as having to choose between cutting off her right or left hand. Do you keep the baby and let it suffer or do you terminate? Both are difficult choices. I think that would be my worst nightmare to have to decide something like that and you can't say how you will react until you know.
Funny when we think how in 1913 you didn't get to decide. You simply had the baby and took the situation as it came. Maybe it was better not knowing.
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