But I have now joined the ranks of Halle Berry and Gweneth Paltrow to name two. We have all had babies over 35 and have therefore been warned of the many things that can go wrong. It is procedure. Down Syndrome, Birth Defects, Spina Bifida, developmental problems and on and on. Sarah Palin made it obvious that women over 35 can be challenged with Down Syndrome babies and old female eggs will be blamed for the condition. Warned that you should have an amniocentesis, to make sure that your baby is healthy, or not so healthy.
When I was confronted with this, I had to ask myself, what is this test for. So that I can have an abortion if I find out the baby has a birth defect? By the time they perform this test, 16 weeks, we are already in love with our babies, which makes the choice impossible and not feasible for many of us women. Some, many decide to get the abortion, if they test positive for birth defect. the choice is theirs, I am not arguing Roe vs. Wade here. So much so that the statistics show that most women that have down syndrome babies are under 30. Yes 30, why? because they don't get tested. So 80 percent of birth defect children have mothers that are 30 and under. While most of us 35 plus year olds abort our birth defected children, with the guidance of our physicians. they quote odds and numbers and all of this is decided by a computer system, and not even a doctor. OK so my odds were 1 out of 240 that my baby will be down syndrome challenged. While the risk of aborting a healthy baby due to amniocentesis risk, is 1 out of 200. So the odds are worse for having the amnio than the risk of having the down baby. And so what if I do find out the baby is down, I wont abort it, so what is the point of getting the test....no point, just to freak me out. So i spent a few frantic hours and days freaked out about the possibility, until I came up with my own rational for the whole thing. Don't have the amnio unless you are willing to have an abortion. If not then there is no sense.
The amnio is a diagnostic test and you will get a definite yes or no. OR you can do what I did. I took control of the situation and the doctor for that matter and made him do two high definition ultrasounds and take very detailed measurements of everything that they check for as far as birth defects are concerned. One done by my OB/GYN, the other done by a high risk OB/GYN ultrasound specialist. The tests both came back normal. They checked brain, kidney heart etc, all the places that birth defects are found. So I consoled myself with that and will have one more ultrasound in 4D and seal the deal and ease any fears that I may still have. Whew, that was simple...NOT!
