This article is from the Pregnancy Screening FAQ, by Lynn Gazis-Sax (gazissax@netcom.com) with numerous contributions by others.
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From Robbrenner@aol.com (Robert Brenner MD):
4. Prenatal testing is beneficial even for those who aren't willing to
terminate the pregnancy. I have addressed this issue in the above answers.
(see answer to 2c)
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From Trish Jalbert (tjalbert@best.com):
I could see that some people would like to know beforehand so that
they could prepare themselves. I had volunteered at camps for
"retarded" (I *hate* that word) kids when I was in high school and
college and felt comfortable with my image of kids with DS, so it was
different for us.
However, with Miranda's heart problems it would have been nice to
know about the DS, because then they would have done an
echocardiogram (ultrasound of her heart) and when we found out about
the problems we might have scheduled a cesarean so as not to tax her.
(I ended up with one anyway because she was late and ended up with
really bad meconium problems. Too much for one kid!)
It's all a personal decision.
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Anonymous response 2:
I can absolutely say I would never abort a baby but, as mentioned above,
I do feel that I would like some advance notice if possible if there were
to be any problems. As it turned out, our daughter was born 7 weeks
early and it wasn't due to any cause that could hav
e been pre-determined, yet I'm
glad I had the tests for my own peace of mind.
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Anonymous response 6:
Boy, I don't know about this. I can't say unequivocally that I would
never abort under any circumstances, but I have also never been put in
the situation to have to make a decision like that. We were not
having the test to see if we should abort or not - I feel like the
more info we can have ahead of time, the better.
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Anonymous response 7:
a) Age was not something to abort for, and as it turns out, I was almost
5 weeks less pregnant than the doc wanted to believe, with an above
average amount of amniotic fluid. I feel on this point the test was more
than worth it so that our baby won't be induced early because the doctor
thinks it is late.
b & c) For these anomalities we probably would have aborted, but as each
arm, leg, finger, toe, etc was counted we almost cried with joy. No
anomalites whatsoever. The US was well worth it to us for peace of mind,
instead of months agonizing over if there were anything wrong.
Being able to see the baby moving around and such was a bonus for us.
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From Dena Rollo:
I *would* abort , so I'm not really qualified to answer this, but I do
think there are benefits regardless - knowing that you're expecting
a child with a specific defect/disability/problem can help prepare
the family emotionally, and gives you time to make any necessary
practical arrangements (will a parent have to stay home? will you
need special equipment? help? institutional care?) or explore treatment
options (early intervention can make a huge difference in outcome, and
there's enough to deal with with a newborn without having to research
this too!) as well as make special birthing arrangements, if necessary
(you may need more medical intervention for the baby than is available
at the facility you've chosen)
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Anonymous response 8:
To me, the biggest benefit is that your birth choices might be affected.
For example, in the case of spinal bifida, you would probably be safer
to have a scheduled c-section. At the very least you could have the
neo-natologist standing by.
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Anonymous response 9:
There are probably no benefits for those having the test who would not
abort unless the method of delivery will make a difference on the
outcome of the severity (eg:Spina Bifida).
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