#trisomy 13

The girl was born with severe heart problems, pulmonary hypertension, kidney reflux, lung disease, brain malformations, a tethered spinal cord, seizures and tracheobronchomalacia, and that doesn't even complete the list. She took 12 medications A DAY.

She only lived for 7 months and in that short time, she suffered greatly, having to frequently visit the hospital and live with tubes in her face and body. Her last month alive, she received a port, a tube in her intestine and a tracheostomy.

And the mother posted today that she was given the chance to have an abortion at 28 weeks because the physicians already knew she wouldn't live long. And her response was, "If I get to kiss her face one time, it's worth it to me."

I'm sure she thought this sounded like a lovely gesture, a symbol of her unmoving convictions of motherhood and the defiance to face unfavorable odds.

But it was fucking selfish. "It's worth it to me. To ME." She was weak and for that, her child suffered for 7 months and suffering was ALL her daughter knew. BUT THANK GOD ALMIGHTY SHE DIDN'T ABORT THAT CHILD BECAUSE LORD KNOWS IT WOULD HAVE BEEN THE WRONG THING.

Patau syndrome is a syndrome caused by a chromosomal abnormality, in which some or all of the cells of the body contain extra genetic material from chromosome 13. The extra genetic material disrupts normal development, causing multiple and complex organ defects.

This can occur either because each cell contains a full extra copy of chromosome 13 (a disorder known as trisomy 13 or trisomy D or T13[1]), or because each cell contains an extra partial copy of the chromosome, or because there are two different lines of cells—one healthy with the correct number of chromosomes 13 and one that contains an extra copy of the chromosome—mosaic Patau syndrome. Full trisomy 13 is caused by nondisjunction of chromosomes during meiosis (the mosaic form is caused by nondisjunction during mitosis).

Before coming to Mexico, I had known that Sarah’s son had died. But I did not know the circumstances. Alone in our hotel room, she revealed the devastating truth.

At Sarah’s first ultrasound, a chatty technician slid the wand over Sarah’s stomach and suddenly fell silent. “I’m going to bring the doctor in,” she announced.

At the second ultrasound, the specialist was astonishingly blunt. “Ah, I see a club foot here,” she narrated, “this hand has three fingers; this hand has four. Poor development in the heart. Oh, look—he has two eyes, though! Most don’t.” And then the final kick to the gut: “I just don’t think this pregnancy is going to be viable.”

Sarah’s baby had trisomy 13, a rare chromosomal condition that causes intellectual and physical abnormalities. Most babies born with the condition will not live beyond a few days.

A third doctor told Sarah, “If you were my wife, I would tell you not to carry this pregnancy to term.”

A fourth doctor offered two grim choices. The first was to induce labor in the hospital. Her baby would live outside the womb a very short time, and then die. The second was to terminate the pregnancy. “I know someone in Los Angeles who can do this for you,” the doctor said. “She doesn’t usually perform the procedure this late, but I’ll call her for you.”

At this point, Sarah was almost six months pregnant. She made the appointment. She tried to distance herself from her baby to prepare for what was coming, but he was kicking inside her. She didn’t want him taken away. “He wasn’t something foreign inside me; he was my son.”

To end a pregnancy at such a late stage required three appointments over three days. A line of protestors blocked Sarah and Ruben’s path to enter the clinic. “One particularly vile woman screamed over and over that I was a murderer. I couldn’t take it, so I walked directly up to her and screamed in her face, ‘My baby is already dead! How dare you!’ ”

They waited in the clinic for an hour, listening to the faint screams of the protesters outside: “Hey, lady with the dead baby! Listen, we can still save you!”