WP: Hard Labor

[MountainLaurel]

Interesting article about a severely deformed and doomed fetus, delineating why termination needs to be an option throughout the pregnancy, though in this case the mother opted to carry as far as she could.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A28673-2005Apr6.html

In a darkened room, Susan Ali strained to make sense of the grainy images on the sonogram screen next to her. She lay on her back, she recalls, her belly slathered with ultrasound gel as a bubbly sonogram technician led her on a guided tour of her 18-week-old baby-to-be.

"These are the toes," chirped the technician, freezing the frame on the foot of Susan and Saqib Ali's first baby. "This is the spine," the technician continued, as Susan, 32, and Saqib, 29, gazed in wonder at what looked like a string of pearls. The couple say they bombarded the technician with excited questions, which she cheerfully answered.

"It's a girl!" the technician announced, to a round of cheers. Susan squeezed Saqib's hand. The couple had already settled on a girl's name: Leila. Her middle name would be Daine, a tribute to Susan's mother, Diane, who had died suddenly a year earlier, two weeks after learning she had a brain tumor.

snip

"Let's look at the head," the sonogram technician continued. More grainy images appeared, but the technician abruptly stopped deciphering them. "The doctor will give you the rest of your results," the Alis remember her saying tersely. Puzzled by the sudden shift in the technician's mood, Susan and Saqib grew quiet, feeling embarrassed that they had taken up so much of her time with their excited banter.

[Bunny]

1. That was very interesting. What a difficult decision.

I wish that all those "abortion outlawed in all cases" people could read this and see what kinds of decisions couples have to struggle with.

I felt for both of those people - the woman's desire to see it through, and the man's desire to end it and move on.

[rebecca_herman]

2. Sad story

What a sad story. I feel bad for both of them. It's hard because they obviously had very different views on what to do in such a pregnancy. And now they both want kids but may never have them due to what happened. It definitley shows how difficult these choices are.

[bleedingheart]

3. Those kind of problems can make or break a marriage

and as I read it I felt so sorry for the father and the mother.

When I had my daughter the sonogram technician and I were discussing babies and I joked about the idea of having twins..and the technician told me that she had encountered a number of couples who divorced as a result of multiple births because it was just so overwhelming...and that is the birth of healthy children...

Raising a special needs child requires even more patience and strength...and for those who do it, they need support from both friends and family...but sadly many people are fearful of dealing with kids that have disabilities.