I was reading a thread on another message board about a young woman who is pregnant and her baby girl has been diagnosed with Trisomy 18. In order to better understand the condition, I googled it. One of the websites I looked at was a support group, and they had photos.
I’ll never understand why I looked through some of them. The photos varied in their composition and level of emotional intensity - some were taken during the child’s living hours, and others were of stillborn babies. One was really disturbing, though - the mother went into “early labor” at something like 19 weeks, so the baby didn’t really look all that human. I couldn’t look at any more pictures after that one.
'Scuse me while I go squeeze my 3-month-old, and cry into his little head.
Avarie, I didn’t know about Trisomy either, and on impetus of your post, did a googling, being curious. Very sad, and was enlightened as to how many parents of these babies, often with short lives, really loved them unconditionally. I don’t quite know how to put it, but it’s amazing that people’s capacity to love can surmount a tragic diagnosis. I was really moved by their stories.
Thanks for educating me about this, and hug your wee babe again. Life is precious.
I did read that thread tomndebb. I just wasn’t prepared for it, you know? The hardest part was reading the descriptions from the parents about spending hours or days with their babies and being thrilled at having that much time with them. I couldn’t imagine not having my son, and that’s what really got to me.
At least you had to go out and find the pictures…the LA Times has a photo of a dead child on the FRONT PAGE. At least I found out this morning as I usually read the paper over my lunch.