Being first time parents we were absolutely thrilled to find out we were expecting. We found out we were having a baby girl a couple days after the 12th week. We thought, YAY we’re out of the first trimester and elated with joy to share the news with our family and friends. But with that news came the news that our chromosomal testing showed a 74.99% PPV for trisomy 18. After meeting with a genetic counselor she calmed our worries by telling us that because of how far along I was at this point (13 weeks) that the 74.99% was more like 49%. I was given hope that our baby girl would be on the other side of that 50% happy and healthy. They attempted an amniocentesis at about 14 weeks but due to the angle of the placenta it ended up being a failure. They said everything looked fine and no abnormalities were seen even though it was still pretty early- and scheduled me for a CVS a couple weeks later. On the day of our appointment they did see a heart issue that caused concern and even though they had to try several times they did the test and set me up for a cardiograph the next day. I felt like our diagnoses was certain at that point but still managed to get through the night with hope. At our appointment the next day the sweetest technician spent over an hour trying to get good pictures of our babies heart. After meeting with the pediatric cardiologist we found out the diagnoses was practically certain. She had major heart issues and her brain flow was nowhere near where it should be. After this almost guaranteed diagnoses our doctor called to set up a medically induced termination as I was now at 17 weeks. We got the CVS results the day before my surgery. We said our final good byes to the love of our lives on the 18 week mark and we have never been the same. We are so thankful we were given the opportunity to love our sweet girl even though we didn’t get to hold her in our arms we will always hold her in our heart.
Baby Izzy
