Edwards Syndrome - Trisomy 18

Doc phoned us today - a day early - with bad news. It's Trisomy 18, aka Edwards syndrome. My partner and I had already covered all eventualities and agreed that the only diagnosis that would lead to termination was this one. In a way it's kind of odd that we had already talked about this possibility since Edwards syndrome is quite rare - only 1 in 3000 conceptions and 1 in 6000 live births. 

I'm still in shock... A small voice is whispering 'What if they got it wrong?'... but then my intuition at the last scan was that the baby wasn't going to make it. The edema is covering the whole body. We're seeing the specialist again on Friday to discuss our options, but I've decided that the most merciful route is termination ASAP. That said... do I have it in me? I'm scared.

This is not a journey I ever expected to be on. How we take things for granted... Three healthy children, no miscarriages and you think you're immune to this stuff.  


It is a girl, by the way. I wanted to know. My dreams were right. Apparently girls have a slightly higher chance of making it to live birth, but even then most die within the first few days. Their short lives are sheer agony as pretty much nothing works the way it is supposed to. Forgive me, but I'm not prepared to allow that kind of suffering. Also, I feel that this baby wouldn't make it to live birth anyway since it already has hydrops fetalis.