title: Genetics VI—Amniocentesis
This image starts with the amniocentesis report for Emily. The three chromosomes instead of a pair in 21st set are what cause Down syndrome. That triplet is enlarged a couple of places in this image. The color is not part of the original report.
Parenting our first child, Seth, had already given me a stronger orientation towards the future than I had before. That orientation was particularly intense waiting for the birth of our second child because we had so little information to go on.
All we knew was that she was a girl and that she had Down syndrome. There was a significant level of denial of even that. It was easy to think “Maybe there was a mistake…Maybe she will be a mosaic (a rare form of Down Syndrome where only a percentage of the bodies cells are affected). She is so active in the womb. Her measurements seem right on… and so on.”
We named Emily quite a while before she was born, probably to add another piece of information to what little we already had, to try to diminish the fear of the part we did know.
1-introduction
2-three chromosomes
3-Emily's birth
4-normal
5-normal
6-normal
7-fixing Emily
8-differences
9-difference
10-hope and fear
11-story about evil
12-story continued
13-changing
14-tears
15-Anna
16-friends
17-unexpected grace
18-indigo bunting
19-god's work
20-links
••hide page list••