Category: D&E

D&E, Hydrocephalus, Stories

Yearning for a Miracle

By Yin “Your baby’s head is big. I don’t want to alarm you, but just be prepared.” These words from my sonographer changed my life forever. A few hours before the sonogram, l was anxious. I kept visualizing walking out of my 20 week anatomy scan with reports of a perfectly healthy baby. Little did I know that, instead, I would be frantically calling abortion clinics to schedule an appointment to terminate my pregnancy. The baby that we thought would complete our family was diagnosed with hydrocephalus due to aqueductal stenosis. The doctor showed me images of his large head, pointing out the fluid entering […]

Congenital Heart Defects, D&E, Hypoplastic Right Heart Syndrome, Stories, Tricuspid Atresia

Asher’s Heart

Asher's Heart

Editor’s note: By special request of the author, this story is published exactly as it was submitted to us. We were crushed, devastated, horrified. The rug had been swept out from under us. In a matter of a few days, we had gone from excited to meet our little boy to hearing we may never meet him and on top of that, we had to make that impossible decision. By Jeannine April 29, 2021 was the worst day of my life. That previous Monday night, we had definitively felt our baby boy moving for the first time. My husband and I sat for several minutes, […]

Congenital Heart Defects, Cystic Hygroma, D&E, Fetal Hydrops, Stories, Turner Syndrome

A Different Kind of Strength

our baby had hygroma and hydrops

The doctor came in with a very sympathetic demeanor and started saying words like cystic hygroma and hydrops and fatal and miscarry and chromosomal issues. We completely lost it. “What do you mean?” I wanted to scream. I just saw a normal happy little moving baby on that screen a few minutes ago. By Jaclyn When our daughter was just 6 months old, we found out we were pregnant again. I’m not going to lie, I was horrified. I was still breastfeeding, trying to juggle being a new mom, working full time, and adjusting to marriage as a parent. Although I reminded myself daily how […]

D&E, Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome

A Terrible Shade of Grey

hypoplastic left heart is a grey diagnosis

“Your baby has Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome. The left side of the heart did not develop. This condition does not have a cure.” A Prenatal Diagnosis of Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome I have always been a planner. Before making any decision, I evaluate the pros and cons and research the risks and associated probabilities. When my husband and I decided to get pregnant, I knew that, according to the CDC, 6% of women struggle with infertility. I knew it could take multiple months to conceive. When we got pregnant on the first try, I also knew that 1 in 4 pregnancies end in miscarriage. I […]

D&E, Stories, Trisomy 21 (Down syndrome)

A foggy winter morning

genetic abnormality

I called the abortion clinic with a program for genetic abnormalities. Through sobbing, I managed to make an appointment for the following week to terminate the pregnancy. by Nicole K. On a foggy winter morning, I pick up the baby’s ashes at the post office. It’s just eleven days after his death. The small, square box is conspicuously labeled “Cremated Remains” which manages to even silence our chatty neighborhood postal clerk. I walk back to our minivan carrying a nearly weightless box while feeling the weight of the world. It takes a while for the tears to stop enough that I can drive. I bring […]

Anencephaly, D&E, Diagnoses, Neural Tube Defects, Stories

No Fear or Regrets

D&E, No Fear or Regrets - an abortion for anencephaly

I was little more than life support for her and within minutes or possibly hours from birth, she would die, without any sense of me or anything around her. By Sara This is my story of ending a wanted pregnancy. I’m putting in lots of details because it’s what I was looking for when we first decided to terminate, but couldn’t find a story like mine. The Anatomy Scan—The Diagnosis My husband and I and our two-year-old live in Japan. My husband is active duty and got stationed here about three years ago. In late July, I was about 21 weeks along with our second child […]

D&E, Religious Perspectives, Stories, Trisomy 21 (Down syndrome)

No Miracle From God

miracle from God

After all, I did not get a miracle from God. But God gives me the support to live through it. By Irina Like many women here I had never imagined that I would have to have an abortion. I thought I would always choose to keep a baby despite any financial situations, or not having a partner/husband to support me. But it never occurred to me that a child could be sick and the decision to terminate a pregnancy would happen because of this. Deciding to have a second baby With my first child, my son, the pregnancy went smoothly. I was 40 when our son turned three years old […]

D&E, Interuterine Growth Restriction (IUGR), Stories

Differing Doctors’ Opinions, Very Little Research

Doctors' Differing Opinions

The most confusing part of this was our doctors’ differing opinions, and that there was very little research about this condition. By Penelope Our first real sign that something was wrong with my pregnancy was when the first-trimester screening results came back abnormal. The NIPT test was inconclusive, and the other result showed that I had very low PAPP-A levels. These two results made the doctor very suspicious that the baby had Trisomy 13 or 18. However, I did the CVS, and the results came back normal. At my 16-week appointment, the doctor thought the uterus was measuring fine. We were able to relax, and […]

Congenital Diaphramatic Hernia (CDH), D&E, Stories

Kind, Compassionate Care When We Needed It Most

Abortion for CDH Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia

So much information was being explained to us. But I only heard the scary keywords: deformed, suffering, uncertainty of survival, termination. This was the most difficult news of our life. By Lillian Adam and I have been together for eight years, happily married for more than six, with two beautiful, healthy and extraordinarily happy and capable daughters. When we found out in June that I was pregnant with our third child, we were overjoyed. My pregnancy felt like all the others—morning sickness most of the day, exhaustion, lots of heartburn, and so much to look forward to. We were thrilled to add more love and […]

Congenital Heart Defects, D&E, Diagnoses, Hypoplastic Right Heart Syndrome, Stories

Letting Poppy Go

HRHS - Letting Poppy Go - a hypoplastic right heart syndrome diagnosis

After days of crying, sleepless nights, and considering quality of life/life expectancy issues, we decided to let our baby boy with HRHS go. By Catt We found out we were having a baby boy late last year. Since I was 38 and wanted another child close in age to our first, this was the blessing we were praying for. We nicknamed the baby “Poppy.” Given my age, we went through all the testing: we did the MaterniT® 21, a nuchal translucency screening, and an amniocentesis. Everything came back normal. Then came time for our 20-week anatomy scan. Like my daughter, my son loved being on his tummy. Because […]