Everything is Normal
Those words are sweet. The prenatal diagnosis clinic just left a message with good news. The results from the amnio are back and the baby has the all the right chromosomes in all the right numbers. She is normal! They also confirmed she is definitely a girl. I can start buying more pink yarn!
To be honest, I never really worried. Perhaps that's because I'm blissfully ignorant of the heartache of "not normal". I haven't been exposed to the affects of it -- I don't know anyone who is or has a child who is "not normal". At this late in the pregnancy, I'm not sure what I would've done if the results had been bad news. This is a topic of hot debate among soon-to-be parents. Some want to know to prepare themselves if the child is diagnosed with a birth defect. Some don't want to know at all because what can they do about it? 20 weeks is late to have an abortion and by this time most women have become quite emotionally attached to their unborn children.
If my earlier test, the one at 11 weeks that screened for Down's Syndrome and Trisomy 18, had indicated I was at risk for those defects I would've gotten an abortion then. Karl opposed it on moral grounds but was struggling with his practical, objective side. I know me. I know I wouldn't have been strong enough to raise a child with Down's. Would it have been fair all around? I can't answer that...Would it have been a selfish decision? Mostly yes but then again, this world is hard enough to deal with, let alone starting out with a handicap.
A sobering topic but thinking about it makes the words "everything is normal" all the more special and meaningful. When I heard the message from the clinic it was like I could finally take a breath. I wasn't very worried before, but now I am much more reassured. I'm curiously relieved and happy. For someone who started on this baby journey uncertain and ambivalent, I sure am glad this little one is still with me and developing, well...normally.
To be honest, I never really worried. Perhaps that's because I'm blissfully ignorant of the heartache of "not normal". I haven't been exposed to the affects of it -- I don't know anyone who is or has a child who is "not normal". At this late in the pregnancy, I'm not sure what I would've done if the results had been bad news. This is a topic of hot debate among soon-to-be parents. Some want to know to prepare themselves if the child is diagnosed with a birth defect. Some don't want to know at all because what can they do about it? 20 weeks is late to have an abortion and by this time most women have become quite emotionally attached to their unborn children.
If my earlier test, the one at 11 weeks that screened for Down's Syndrome and Trisomy 18, had indicated I was at risk for those defects I would've gotten an abortion then. Karl opposed it on moral grounds but was struggling with his practical, objective side. I know me. I know I wouldn't have been strong enough to raise a child with Down's. Would it have been fair all around? I can't answer that...Would it have been a selfish decision? Mostly yes but then again, this world is hard enough to deal with, let alone starting out with a handicap.
A sobering topic but thinking about it makes the words "everything is normal" all the more special and meaningful. When I heard the message from the clinic it was like I could finally take a breath. I wasn't very worried before, but now I am much more reassured. I'm curiously relieved and happy. For someone who started on this baby journey uncertain and ambivalent, I sure am glad this little one is still with me and developing, well...normally.
posted by Lynette at 1/19/2006 08:14:00 PM
2 Comments:
I'm so happy that everything is "normal". Well genetically speaking, I mean after all the kid is being born to a fiber a holic, how normal can we expect them to really be :-)
Glad to hear that the baby is fine!!
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