Monday, October 6, 2008

A Down Syndrome Pregnancy in the Spotlight

What Sarah Palin went through in her pregnancy with her son Trig was not easy. Being in the spotlight as the governor of Alaska, she had to work hard to keep her pregnancy and the baby's subsequent diagnosis out of the news until she and her family were ready for what might happen once the situation became public.

Whether or not we know about our baby's diagnosis before birth (I didn't know until my son was a day old), parents of babies with birth defects have to make a lot of hard decisions about how and when to tell people, how to accept the changes in their lives and how to move on. This article goes into detail about how Sarah Palin and her family dealt with her pregnancy and Trig's birth. Many of us can relate to it, I think.

4 comments:

Susan said...

I loved the article!

Not knowing about the diagnosis is one of the reasons I kept refusing all tests. And it turned out, after two of our kids' births (the two that had problems) that I was so glad to have gone through the pregnancies without knowing. I would've worried and stressed. I'm sure the babies were healthier on account of my ignorance of their defects. And once they're there, in your arms, you just fall in love with them!

We didn't tell people about my last pregnancy until I was about 5.5 months, and then we found out that I could've hidden it longer. We got so much flack for announcing the arrival of #5 that I just didn't tell anybody about #6. I think the Palins were smart to not tell. It's a lot harder for people to suggest that the baby should've been aborted by the time Mom is 7 months along, or after the little darling has arrived and is looking you in the eyes with all his sweetness.

Barbara Frank said...

Susan, I appreciated not knowing, too. It would have made the pregnancy so stressful. OTOH, I've heard that some testing can find things they can fix before the baby's birth, or prepare to fix immediately after the birth.

Our neighbors by our old house did not tell the husband's coworkers about their fifth and sixth pregnancies because he took so much flack for #4! What's wrong with people anyway? A child is a gift!

Anonymous said...

I have heard some of those test to be wrong.
God gives us what we can handle.

Barbara Frank said...

BarbaraLee, that's a good point. I've heard about a lot of test results that were in error. Parents have to be really cautious. And yes, God's grace is sufficient!