Incompatible With LIFE

Journal Entry from April 16, 2010:

     It felt like this day would never come! We met with Dr. Boley at Maternal-Fetal Medicine and he did another ultrasound on our baby. He informed us that our baby had a NEURAL TUBE defect called ANENCEPHALY. This birth defect actually is found in 1 out of 1,000 babies. Many of these babies are aborted, so not many people are familiar with this birth defect.

      Within the first few weeks of conception, the baby's neural tube forms. If the tube does not completely close at the bottom, the baby develops Spina Bifida. If the tube fails to close at the top of the tube, it's called Anencephaly. The baby's skull never forms, leaving the brain and rest of the head completely exposed and unprotected. As a result, the baby's brain deteriates and the baby is left with only a brain stem.

      It was hard to take in all that Dr. Boley was telling us about on this day....we had never even heard of this birth defect before. How could our baby have Anenecephaly?? I had been taking a prenatal vitamin and was sure that I did not have low Folic Acid levels (Low Folic Acid levels have been linked to some cases of Neural Tube Defects).

      One main thing stuck out from that day with Dr. Boley. He informed us that Anencephaly is ALWAYS FATAL......that babies born with this defect are INCOMPATIBLE with LIFE. Anencephalic babies are not able to see, hear, or feel and if they live to be full term, they usually die during the natural birthing process or shortly after.

      Dr. Boley politely told us that there were "OPTIONS," and we kindly told him that we did NOT want to hear them. The Lord had given this child to us and we were commited to being his or her parents whether or not they lived for a few months, a day, or a lifetime......