Pregnancy comes with a lot of fear, and much of it does not originate with the expectant parents. That kind of fear, I can understand: How will we afford a child? How will being parents affect our relationship? Am I eating well enough for the pregnancy? Will a car accident/high-altitude plane travel/overheating/being too cold damage the embryo? Will I have a miscarriage? These fears seem reasonable to me.
But there is a lot of fear that is just attached to the tiny statistical chance that something, something will go wrong and instead of a healthy, “normal” child, we will end up with some kind of monster. I mean, seriously, a monster. For instance in the book Baby Catcher by Peggy Vincent, which is chock full of inspiring birth stories from a midwife, the last tale is of a pregnancy that goes horribly wrong–the baby is stillborn, and through intense medical intervention a doctor manages to create a pulse and breathing. There has been so much oxygen deprivation, however, that the child must be institutionalized for life, and all it ever does is scream. Isn’t being locked in an institution, with no ability to interact or enjoy life, screaming, forever, everyone’s worst nightmare?
A lot of the prenatal screenings and tests are predicated on a worst-case scenario. I am between 9 and 11 weeks, the appropriate time for Chorionic villus sampling. This is invasive test (they stick a needle in you) is basically a biopsy, the analysis of which “may indicate” any of more than 200 disorders. It is used to detect, for instance, genetic and chromosomal abnormalities. I am low-risk for gen/chrom abnormalities – K’s family has no history of abnormalities, and although I have an Ashkenazi Jewish background, it’s only on my dad’s side and K doesn’t share that background. As far as I know, no one in my family tree has ever had Tay-Sachs, making it unlikely that I carry the disease.
3% of all people are born with birth defects, or “abnormalities of structure, function, or body metabolism that are present at birth.” That seems like a small number until you realize that it is 1 in 33. Only about 30 or 40% of birth defects have a clear cause. And there’s not a lot you can do about it if you learn during pregnancy that your fetus has one. Sometime a condition can be treated in utero, sometimes knowing about a condition allows for the chance to take greater precautions during birth, and sometimes knowledge of the condition results in the couple having a therapeutic abortion. A lot of times, though, it seems like it wouldn’t do you much good to know.
My general sense is that it’s best to do the less invasive testing, like ultrasound and blood testing, and then unless something indicating trouble comes up, put my faith in the universe.
January 4, 2008 at 5:55 pm
My mother had a difficult decision to make when she was pregnant with me and then my sister– whether or not to test for Downs Syndrome, and what to do if the test was positive. She grew up with a brother with Downs, and although he’s a cheerful person, he hasn’t had an easy life, and it was not easy on the family, particularly because in those days Downs was not well understood and people were not sympathetic toward families who had a Downs child. Also, it is kind of like having a child for life, depending on the severity of the case. My grandparents didn’t institutionalize him, as was commonly done, and, incredibly, they got a lot of flak for it. Fortunately Mom didn’t have to worry about it for us, and you shouldn’t worry about it either, because it’s much more likely to occur in pregnancies that are late in life….Funny, I haven’t thought about Uncle Jonathon in awhile.