Prenatal Testing

Oops, I missed yesterday.  I figured it would happen eventually.

I wanted to make a post about prenatal testing.  I always feel frustrated when I see so many misconceptions about prenatal testing.  Here are just a few I would like to address:

• "I would never get the prenatal tests because I would keep my baby either way." - This implies that the only reason to get prenatal testing is because you would consider ending the pregnancy.  This may be one reason, but I think most people just want to know whatever they can about their baby in advance.  Just think about how many people find out the gender before the baby is born now.  I also think most people, myself included, took the test just assuming it was more like a check box in their pregnancy.  I always thought "why not?" and didn't think I would get a phone call saying my baby was at higher risk.  I do see benefits to knowing now rather than at birth.  I'm a planner and I've done tons of reading and research.  I feel like I'm now able to enjoy my pregnancy without any doubts about whether she has T21 or not looming over my head.  I'm also considering switching to a hospital with a higher level NICU, but that all depends on if we see anything at our fetal echocardiogram tomorrow.

• "There are too many false positives with those tests." - I'm blaming this one on doctors and nurses actually, but the screening tests should not be told as a "positive" or "negative" result.  They are "normal" or "abnormal" and have a risk factor.  I was told a 1:93 chance of having a baby with T21.  My daughter was the 1, but about 92 other women would get the same result and their child would probably not have T21.  That's how statistics work.

• "You shouldn't worry if your baby has Down Syndrome because all people with Down Syndrome are always happy and healthy." - This one is a misconception for two reasons.  First, T21 is a condition that includes a higher likelihood for health issues including heart problems, bowel obstructions, hearing/sight impairment, among other problems.  Not every person with T21 is completely healthy, but most health issues are easily fixed with surgery or treatment.  That being said, not every baby is born healthy either, but I do still worry that Ada will have a heart problem.  Mainly because I don't want my newborn to go through surgery and I'm pretty sure no one would.  There are health risks with any person or child.  No one is completely healthy all the time, but it's natural for a parent to be concerned about their child's health.  Also, these screening test also check for risk factors associated with Trisomy 18 and Trisomy 13, which commonly have major health issues associated with the condition.  The other reason this statement is wrong is because people with Down Syndrome have the same array of emotions as any 'typical' person.  They can be happy, sad, angry, excited, frustrated, and any of these emotions.  

  I am going to end by saying that these prenatal tests do come with stress.  Women get stressed when their results come back as 1 in 250.  1 in 250 is not a great chance and there is still a chance even when you're told less than 1 in 10,000.  It's all just statistics and there will always be those that fall out of the norm.  In the end, it kind of means nothing.  It's a personal decision if you want to take these tests or not.  Personally, I would do it all over again.  I like being prepared.  I also love this billboard from IDSC for Life and Changing the Face of Beauty.

 

That is why you shouldn't worry about having a child with Down Syndrome, but, of course, you're going to worry whether your child has a genetic condition or not because it's one thing a mom is pretty good at.

Touching Story About a Dad

Today, I'm just stealing from someone else's post.  I saw this on a blog yesterday and found it very sweet and touching.



Also, time to post some more pictures of Brady.  Here's a sequence of him brushing his teeth.

Just an Average Day

Today has been pretty average.  Maybe a little busier than usual, but right now Brady is down for a nap (at least we'll see if he stops talking to himself soon), dinner is cooking in the crockpot, zucchini chips are baking in the oven, and the dishwasher is almost ready to be unloaded.  This means I have a few minutes to blog.

Today, I'm thinking about "normal" and "average" a bit.  It was something that worried me at first.  Will our life ever be easy and normal once Ada is here?  Will we have average days like this?  These were some of my concerns until I met a family that our genetics counselor connected us with.  They live in our area and have a 5 year old son and a daughter who is a few months older than Brady.  She also has Down syndrome.  We actually spent some time with her and her mom today at the local library storytime.  In so many ways, she and her family have shown me that Down syndrome is not in the forefront of their life.  She is just like a "typical" toddler.  Yes, she has extra therapy and doctors appointments, but every day for their family seems to be very similar to what every day is for us.  Spending time with her and her family has really helped us out a lot.  Plus, now we have more friends in the area with children the same age as ours.  Did I mention her mom is due with her third one month after Ada is due?

I've decided I will devote some time this month to reading other blogs for 31 for 21.  I obviously don't have time to read them all because there are over 150 last I saw.  I (somewhat) randomly selected 8 of these blogs and figure I will read at least these blogs throughout this month.  I'm going to create a list on the side of the blogs I selected to read.  It truly helps to read others blogs and feel like I can know (at least a little bit) about what I may be expecting in our future.  I also have added my favorite links to the side bar.  These links are blogs and other resources that I found helpful in the few weeks after my prenatal diagnosis and continue to find helpful now.