Fearfully Awaiting Prenatal Test Results

[Guest cryocells]

I am 17 weeks pregnant and recently got abnormal results on an MSAFP. They were low and indicated the I had a 1 in 149 chance of having a baby with Down Syndrome. (I have a healthy three-year-old son and no other risk factors.) Although the ultrasound revealed nothing abnormal, we decided to have amniocenticis. Since I had the test I have not been able to function. I can't sleep, I have been vomiting frequently and when I do sleep I'm having constant nightmares. I have lost five pounds and I'm concerned about the health of my baby. I have tried relaxation techniques, focusing on positives, and keeping as busy as possible. Nothing is helping. I am almost paralyzed with fear.

Edited January 28, 2011 by Cap'n Refsmmat
remove spam link

[lemur]

You need to do the soul-searching it takes to figure out what decision you will ultimately be most self-assured of. You need to develop a moral/ethical position regarding down-syndrome so that you can make a confident choice where you'll be able to say for the rest of your life that you did the best thing in retrospect. 1 in 149 is lower than you think, though. If you were at a casino, you would most likely lose your money with those odds. Still, you can take this as an opportunity to realize that you need to have a more established ethical/moral perspective in your life so that you won't be caught off guard to such an extent next time you are confronted with such a hard issue. Remember, you can almost always live with any choice if it is made in good faith with the best intentions you can muster at a given moment.

[Marat]

To worry that seriously about a 1/149 chance of something going wrong is really lacking in perspective. Your baby has a 1/100 chance of becoming a schizophrenic, or a 1/300 chance of suffering from the most severe form of childhood diabetes, but those possibilities -- which are within the range of your Downs Syndrome risk -- have probably never even entered your mind.

 

I know patients with Polycystic Renal Disease -- a condition which condemns to endstage renal failure, dialysis, and premature death 50% of all the children these patients have -- who nonetheless decide to have children because, as I have actually heard one say, "I like to see the glass as half full rather than half empty." If even people such as this with a 50-50 chance of an unimaginable horror occurring through the birth of their child are willing to take the gamble, both for themselves and for their children, then that should put your infinitesmal 1/149 risk into perspective.

[zapatos]

Kids with Down Syndrome are a lot like other kids. I'm glad you are focusing on the positive. Parents with children who have Down Syndrome wouldn't give them up for anything.

 

A Lot Like You

Even though I have Down syndrome, my life is a lot like yours. I read books and watch TV. I listen to music with my friends. I’m on the swim team and in chorus at school. I think about the future, like who I’ll marry. And I get along with my sisters—except when they take my CDs without asking!

 

Some of my classes are with typical kids, and some are with kids with learning disabilities. I have an aide who goes with me to my harder classes, like math and biology. She helps me take notes and gives me tips on how I should study for tests. It really helps, but I also challenge myself to do well. For instance, my goal was to be in a typical English class by 12th grade. That’s exactly what happened this year!

http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/stories/peopleplaces/downsyndrome/

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

Unfortunately it appears the original poster is a rather sneaky spammer that has been around for several months, spamming an umbilical cord stem cell preservation service.

 

Hey, at least it's not another Viagra ad...

[hypervalent_iodine]

Or another Italian add for rental apartments in Rome.

[lemur]

Unfortunately it appears the original poster is a rather sneaky spammer that has been around for several months, spamming an umbilical cord stem cell preservation service.

 

Hey, at least it's not another Viagra ad...

Does this mean it's ok to hijack this thread now to discuss viagra? I've been wondering if it can be used to stimulate engorgement of other areas than genetalia.

[Moontanman]

Does this mean it's ok to hijack this thread now to discuss viagra? I've been wondering if it can be used to stimulate engorgement of other areas than genetalia.

 

 

Ummm... yes, makes your nose run too, lol

 

 

ooh ooh ooh I know, let critique the best and or worst manly men type pill Television Commercials! lol I like the enzyte commercials, the one where the guy loses his swim trunks as he is climbing out of the pool, all the women present are wide eyed as thier jaws drop open (more camera time is given to a black woman who looks particularly impressed) His wife waits on him hand and foot and seems to worship him... after he takes the pills, ROFLMAO I'm not sure what they are selling but it goes far beyond a big penis I think, talk about the placebo effect, lol

 

First time I saw the commercial I thought it was a joke, part of an SNL skit, which was on the TV at the time.