I read a blog link that Lily's mom posted to share and it broke my heart.
It is about a Trisomy 18 baby named Jedidiah who has recently passed away.
It always brings me to think back on the double edge sword of pre-natal ultrasounds, the cornerstone of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.
Is "knowing" always good? Does "knowing" help parents who have a poor prenatal diagnosis, or work against them? Does "knowing" help doctors prepare to save the baby or prepare not to?
In the old days, people just popped their babies out on the day itself, not even knowing the sex beforehand. Babies had the "protection" of anonymity till they arrived in the flesh. No one, could make any comment or judgement on them till they made their presence felt.
I'm thinking, how did we get to this day and age of always "wanting to know the future"?
If ultrasounds had showed up Vera's Trisomy 18 early in the pregnancy...she would not be here today. That is a fact. We would most likely have been strongly encouraged to abort her. And we most likely would have.
We've been conditioned by modern medicine to think the world of pre-natal ultrasounds.
Sometimes even when we think we know, we don't. Medicine doesn't always have all the answers.
Some things are good just knowing in our hearts.
26 November 2010
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6 comments:
May, I agree with you. If ultrasound had detected T18 on Charmaine, she would not be here today. She has just celebrated her 2nd birthday yesterday!Should I thank the blood test for not detecting the syndrome? Should I thank the Dr for not seeing it on the ultrasound? Probably.. God has given me 2 good years with Charmaine. I am praying for more to come...
Yvonne
Yvonne,
You should thank Charmaine for keeping it a secret from everyone so that she could come out to see mommy and daddy!
A very thoughtful post, May. Yvonne mentioned that the tests results were false negative in her precious Charmaine's case. As an ob nurse I have seen many people who chose to have their "imperfect" babies and their little ones were born without any of the"defects" expected. There are false positives just as there are false negatives. You are so right to question the wisdom of testing.
My son was diagnose with cleft lip & palate during the detailed scan. I went amnio test too. For me I felt tt it was good that it was detected, as I get to listen to all the specialist and get myself prepared for a
'special' child.
hi, during my detailed scan, my son was detected to have a tummy condition - so 1/3 chance of Down Syndrome and i did an amnio. Even went to specialist before that to see for tickers for DS. I must really thank God that the specialist and his machine is totally flawed! He had heart and kidney conditions which the doc did not pick up. I spent the rest of the preg worrying on his least concerned condition cos God kept the other 2 major ones away from me.
i know that if his heart and kidney conditions are made known then, alot of docs will advise termination. God works in mysterious ways and I thank God my baby is with me now and is such a strong fighter.
Anonymous,
That's so amazing. Yes, so that you did not have to worry too much during your pregnancy. All the best to you n your baby...keep in touch!
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