{"id":222602,"date":"2020-04-29T12:24:14","date_gmt":"2020-04-29T17:24:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=222602"},"modified":"2020-04-28T16:24:25","modified_gmt":"2020-04-28T21:24:25","slug":"trisomy-13-lessen-love-privileged","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/trisomy-13-lessen-love-privileged\/","title":{"rendered":"Mom of baby with Trisomy 13: I have ‘gratitude for being chosen to be Gabrielle’s mother’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Diane Simoni was told at 20 weeks that her baby had severe health problems. She told her story of choosing to parent a baby with Trisomy 13 in “The American Feminist,” the magazine of Feminists for Life. Simoni explained, \u201cAt about 20 weeks gestation, an ultrasound picked up abnormalities in the infant I was carrying. Sadly, major brain and heart defects were noted.\u201d<\/p>\n

From the beginning, she was determined not to abort:<\/p>\n

The obstetrician and the head of the Genetics Department were direct with me about having amniocentesis, suggesting to me that if I knew what the chromosomal abnormality was, I would lean more toward abortion. They didn’t know how firmly I stood.<\/em><\/p>\n

She did have an amniocentesis, which found that her baby had Trisomy 13, a chromosomal condition. Most babies with Trisomy 13 do not survive for very long, although survival rates are increasing<\/a> if these children are given aggressive medical treatment.<\/p>\n

Despite the poor prognosis, Simoni carried her baby to term, and named her Gabrielle. She wrote, “Gabrielle lived for 12 days and died in my arms at home. Hospice services were a wonderful resource, as my husband and I learned to change her feeding tube and prepare for her death.”<\/p>\n