[tri-med] Re: Pregnancy Question

I too am pregnant with a child that has Trisomy 18 (I am currently 31 wks w/son 
Owen).  I also 
have a normal 3 yr old son (Andrew), so I have a previous pregnancy that I can 
'compare' to this 
one.  With this pregnancy, Owen's movements are considerably smaller and more 
infrequent than
Andrew's were.  I believe part of this is due to the fact that Owen's placenta 
is on the front
part of my uterus, so the placenta acts as a further cushioning for fetal 
movement.  And for a
larger part, it's probably due to the T18.
Andrew's delivery was a fairly easy vag delivery.  I live in ultra-liberal 
Oregon & have yet to 
find a doctor willing to do a c-section (if during vag delvy Owen becomes 
distressed).  The doctors
here gave me the same song & dance about how it's a major surgery and they 
don't want to do it
because it won't 'improve the outcome for the baby'.  Which, in my opinion, is 
a load of crap.
The risks to my health (for a c-section) are no different for a 'normal' baby 
vs. a baby with T18.
IMO, this is really the doctor's own value judgement about how valuable a short 
life is + covering
his own rear RE: liability insurance.  My next doc visit is tomorrow, where I'm 
really going to 
'put the screws' to him about how valuable a short life is to ME and that if we 
miraculously make 
it to term, then the outcome we want to try to have is that Owen be born alive. 
 I will accept 
whatever time I am given.

When I was 21 wks is when we first found out about T18 (because of the 
ultrasound findings).  I 
refused the amnio until I was 29 wks.  The FISH came back 80/100 cells full 
T18.  On our 
ultrasounds, Owen does have some physical 'markers':  Possible rocker bottom 
feet, clenched hands
w/overlapping fingers, eyes a bit closer together than normal, slightly 
enlarged brain ventricles,
coroid plexus cysts, lemon shaped head, possible VSD (but then in subsequent 
ultrasounds, they said
nothing was wrong with his heart), a large lung mass (they don't know if it's 
BPS or CCAM), and
now I have extra amniotic fluid.  The thing I am most concerned about is the 
lung mass & how that
will affect his breathing/oxygen saturation.

I don't know about you, but for me the hardest part is the waiting & not 
knowing what's going 
to happen.  Let me know if you would like me to email (off list) my birth plan. 
 Have you contacted
NILMDTS yet?


Jill, I'll be thinking of you & praying for the best,
Shannon Berlant


----- Original Message ----
From: Karen <karens@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: tri-family@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Cc: tri-med <tri-med@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, August 25, 2008 5:53:17 PM
Subject: [tri-med] Re: [tri-family] Re: Pregnancy Question

> I asked them to do an ultra sound because I haven't felt much movement
and 
> they did -

Alex definitely moved far less than any of my other kids and I always hung 
out for them to check his heartbeat for my own reassurance.
  
Christopher didn't move as much or as rough as my other 3 but he did move
(felt like little butterfly wings, or tiny taps). We did know that he was
smaller than my other children, but they didn't know he was T-18


> I was told that they won't do a caesarean just because birth is
stressful 
> to the baby - she said that would pose too much risk to me when the 
> prognosis for the baby is so poor.  I will explore that further with my 
> obstetrician.

Alex was born by c-section but we didn't know that he had T-18. While you 
can't force a doctor to do a c-section there is a study that suggests our 
kids do do better with a c-section, especially if there is a heart 
condition. Understandably a vaginal birth is lot harder on the baby if they 
do have a heart condition and many wont survive a natural birth for that 
fact alone.

Christopher was born by C-section too, & I'm glad the Dr's
didn't know because they told me that if they had known they wouldn't
have done the C-sec.  Their attitude  was  "Why put the mother through that
when the baby has a fatal condition anyway?" To say the least, I was not
happy that they would have not treated him the same if they had known. I feel
that it was best for him not to have gone through a vaginal birth as it would
have been more stressful with his heart problems. 


Kandy K Goodrich

~wife of David (just had our 24th Anniversary Aug 12th)
~mom of 4 beautiful children:
Brian (age: 22, gall bladder surgery Aug 6th, went back the Jr College today), 
Joshua (age: 17, started his Senior year in High School today & a
"Music" major),
Christopher (Our precious little baby, 3-6-1997~1-26-1998, Trisomy-18),
& Sarah (age: 7, beautiful, strong-willed, very smart& started 3rd
grade today)



      

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