Hi all,
First off, apologies for the long post!
I'm 22 weeks pregnant this week and my husband and I have been on a rollercoaster throughout our pregnancy. At our 12-week scan the sonographer discovered a raised NT level, at which point we were then referred for a CVS test and foetal echo. We were so happy when we got the all-clear for both, but at my 20 week scan it was discovered that our baby's left leg isn't growing at the same rate as her right one and is significantly shorter (the left femur is measuring at 20mm vs 31mm on the right). On top of this, her left tibia is also considerably shorter, has a confirmed case of talipes, and the leg is not extending below the knee, which the consultant says could be a case of various possibilities: fixed flexion deformity, amniotic band syndrome, or some vascular accident that happened early on in the pregnancy - none of which can be confirmed until after the birth.
As first time parents, this all hits us especially hard. Becoming parents in the first place is a challenging thing, let alone bringing up a child with a physical disability. Despite that, we are trying to keep positive and we want to do everything we can do keep her however we are finding it incredibly difficult to predict the outcome of our daughter's quality of life in the future and neither can the consultants.
We're not ones to gamble on any life decisions, especially one that involves bringing another human into the world that hasn't "asked" for this. I think if it were one isolated case, we would without a doubt be confident in bringing her into this world, but because it's a compounded list of other issues, it's becoming more difficult to want to continue through with the pregnancy.
Are there any parents who can shed some light on their decision to keep their baby, despite their physical shortcomings? Particularly parents with children with amputations: It sounds cruel to even think about it, but how costly is it to provide your child with top of the line prosthetics? Do you fear that your child might feel any signs of resentment towards your decision to keep him/her?