Trisomy 18 Edward's Syndrome

[thomassmummy]

Hi everyone, I'm new to the site and just wanted to tell my story and hopefully gain some much needed advise.
We already have a DS who is a happy and healthy 3 yr old and last year I fell pregnant again with a due date of May 2010. The pregnancy seemed to be going along fine, no abnormalities were shown on the scans or triple test. The only thing I noticed was that I was substanstially smaller in size than I was with my DS. At 34 wks I was booked in for a growth scan due to my concerns about my size, and the sonographer confirmed the baby was v small and the doppler readings were not good. The hospital decided to give me an EMCS and deliver the baby, who was ventilated approx 3 hrs after birth and trfd to another hospital. It took the hospital a week to diagnose my DD but the results come back that she had trisomy 18 Edward's and the illness was 'incompatible with life'. Our DD fought a good fight but sadly passed away on the 3 May 2010, aged 18 days.
I have since discovered that I am pregnancy again and although overjoyed at this pregnancy, absolutely terrified that something will happen again.
Has anyone here conceived a child with Edward's and gone on to have a healthy pregnancy and birth??
We have booked a private combined NT scan for 3 Sept but to be honest the waiting is unbearable..

[stripeyknickersspottysocks]

Hi, welcome to MN.

I'm so sorry about your daughter.

Congrats on the new pregnancy. My sister had a pregnancy with an Edward's baby and terminated as she found out quite early. She's since gone on to have a healthy baby.

I hope you get good news at the NT scan, I'm sure the odds are in your favour but the waiting must be awful.

[Warmseabreeze]

Hi love, I didn't have this myself but my friends baby had this, it was detected at their 12wk scan, the baby died within the next week and a half. She is now pregnant again this baby doesn't have Edwards. Good luck, hopefully everything will be fine for you this time around. X

[DCSsunhill]

Hi there. So sorry to hear what you have been through.

My first baby was diagnosed with Holoprosencephaly whilst still in the womb. I then went on to have two healthy baby boys, who showed no sign of the condition.

Have you been offered genetic counselling? However, I suppose with being pregnant again, it no longer matters. Congratulations btw!

ARC (ante-natal results and choices) will have plenty of parent contacts who have had healthy babies following Edwards Syndrome. They are brilliant and it's always great to talk to someone who has experienced exactly the same trauma as yourself. I will get you the link....

[DCSsunhill]

arc website

They specialise in helping women get their questions answered, following a pregnancy that was complicated with abnormalities.

Good luck and all the best with the pregnancy.

[thomassmummy]

Thank you all for replying it's good to hear that there are people who go on to have healthy pregnancies.

DCSsunhill - we were not offered genetic counselling as my dd had full blown T18 which meant neither myself nor my DH are carrying a gene, it is just one of those things that could happen to anyone. This is the case with a majority of T18 cases.

I will have a look in ARC as it seems a good source of support. Thank you once again..

[Mishtabel]

Hi Thomassmummy, I'm so sorry for the loss of your little girl. Hope I'm not out of line in suggesting this, but the thread for 'women who are pregnant following termination for abnormalities' may be very useful for you. I know your situation was different, though I imagine many of your fears this time around are similar to the ladies of that thread, and I know they would be more than happy to hold your hand in the lead up to Sept 3rd. Congratulations on your new pregnancy xx

[MimsyStarr]

Hi there. I am another who had a successful pregnancy after a T18 pregnancy - my DS is nearly 2 now, and we are trying for another. I am also on the thread Mishtabel mentions above. I hope we can help. X