BLOG#6 (Chapter 6, Module 6)

• Should prenatal testing be routine for all pregnant women?

Yes, I believe prenatal testing should be routine for all pregnant women, however I do not believe that prenatal testing should be mandatory! One year before I gave birth to my daughter, my first cousin and his wife gave birth to a daughter who has Down’s syndrome. When my obstetrician discovered this information on my patient history form, he immediately wanted me to have an amniocentesis to detect if there were any abnormalities with my child and if so, he stated, “You can have an abortion” - I was LIVID! I refused to have the test performed because I would not have aborted my child even if I knew she had Down’s syndrome. For two months, my obstetrician literally tortured me to have the testing done and it was not until I threatened to report him to have his medical license revoked that he backed off. Test results are not 100% accurate! I cannot begin to imagine all of the women who may have been in this situation and possibly aborted their babies because of false positive test results. My cousin and his wife have had two other children that they were told, after amniocentesis testing, tested positive for Down’s syndrome, neither were born with the disease. To this day, I am glad that I followed my intuitions and opted not to follow through with the recommended amniocentesis testing. During my pregnancy, I had two ultrasounds that indicated that I was carrying a boy…on December 14, 1992 I gave birth to a baby girl. The walls in her nursery were painted blue, I had three baby showers…received ALL boy clothes, blue stroller, blue blankets, etc.. His name was going to be Kristopher - approximately week after I gave birth, I’ll never forget it (December 24, 1992), I was in the mall experiencing discomfort from my caesarian incision, exchanging baby clothes…LOL!

Despite my past experiences and as a future healthcare educator, I would encourage women to make an educated decision based on their personal/family medical history and their personal beliefs.