How does one deal with reality?

The reality of dealing with a foetus with down syndrome? What would you do? Abort or deliver? You can see the kicking moving arms and legs and body, a heart beat. But you are not sure? Its just a statistic it started with a risk factor of 1:2500 because of her advanced maternal age (35) that is.
Then a test later its suddenly became 1:13 what changed?, the test that was not supposed to be done? Now it has been done. The doctors without blinking a fat eyelash say go have an amniocentesis, here’s your prescription for it.

Thats invasive she thinks, it has caused miscarriages and punctured an intestine to a close friend’s daughter, killing her. She is not ready to die yet, nor let the foetus die for a comparative statistic. It is not a diagnostic tool.

She looks for options, scours the internet for information. There are other procedures like a detailed sonogram which look for soft markers and can let her know without invading her body with a needle, puncturing the womb and taking some tablespoons of amniotic fluid. The fluid will be grown in a lab to see what comes up.

The doctors casually mention, once you know you can still abort. Or if you don’t want too at least you know what you are in for. Everyone wants a perfect child, healthy in body and mind. But does not get one. Genetics has gone pretty far in that most major birth defects can be figured out before the child is born.

How do parents deal with children with disabilities, she might be a good person to ask. Soon she might know first hand. Then again maybe she wont. But it has woken her up to the realization of that possibility.

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