The perils of Google

[rivka]

I just Googled "baby echocardiogram," because Alex's procedure is on Thursday and I am becoming increasingly tense.

I found an excruciatingly well-written set of blog posts by a woman who discovered, at 22 weeks gestation, that her baby had severe abnormalities incompatible with life. She had a late-term abortion. And she wrote about the experience so evocatively that suddenly there I was, crying over total strangers.

Damn you, Internet.

Comments

[aloha-moira.livejournal.com]

And now here I am, wishing I had a link. :/

Glad to see your blog is back, by the way!

[platypus]

Do the same Google search; it was the third link for me. Very sad.

[jinian.livejournal.com]

Wow, that's really sad.

I'm sure Alex will be just fine.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

I hope she will. But in any case, they're such utterly and completely different circumstances that the story I found doesn't even come close to applying to our situation.

[dragon3.livejournal.com]

The smaller the world is, the sadder it looks. All of our news and other systems spread the bad news most efficiently and make all of us more disturbed, especially in advance of information. I sure hope Alex is just fine and she sure looks that way in pictures.

Keep in mind that the biggest thing is to keep her from stumbling into downtown traffic, and I bet you're really good at that.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

Keep in mind that the biggest thing is to keep her from stumbling into downtown traffic, and I bet you're really good at that.

There are so many perils on the street, I can't even begin to tell you. It's not just running into traffic - although, fortunately, the closely-packed rows of parked cars provide a barrier there. But many people on our street have a steep and slippery set of stairs leading down to a basement door, sometimes with railings that a one-year-old could easily slip through. And the other day she was poking in the patch of dirt around a sidewalk tree when suddenly I noticed a rusty razor blade right next to her little fingers. I'm good at IDing broken glass bits right away, but this thing was soil-colored.

But somehow I can't bring myself to rule that she must remain in the stroller until we get to the park. She's learning such a deep and close-up appreciation of the city I love.

[minnaleigh.livejournal.com]

I'm sure everything will be okay but I will be thinking about you all on Thursday!

[llnaughty.livejournal.com]

i know! i was researching the side effects of reglan because edgar's neonatologist wanted to give it to her to treat reflux while in the nicu, and we had heard samaphore that it could cause dystonia which sometimes may be permanent, and google served me up this story (http://www.antipsychiatry.org/jenelle.htm). at least it's a short recap. the end of the story has a link to the girl's page, which goes into even more details!

[patgreene.livejournal.com]

I'll be thinking of you and Alex on Thursday.

[chargirlgenius.livejournal.com]

Although abortion is such a powerful and important topic, I've recently realized how little we actually hear of it in such a personal way. Until a month ago, I'd never actually heard or read anybody describe their individual experiences with it. It seems to me that people will talk about supporting the choice, but few will ever admit that they've been through the ordeal, much less describe it in detail. That is, it's not a topic discussed much among the general public.

I don't know why the woman had an abortion in the account that I was reading, but it didn't matter. It was so RAW, her description, that I couldn't help crying. In the same vein, while I was pregnant with Henry, there was an article in the Post about a family that discovered fetal abnormalities, but decided to carry the baby to term. The baby died within hours of birth. In print, or on the internet, those stories hit hard.

I hope all goes well on Thursday. I'm hoping to hear some stories about how well Alex takes the exam. :-)

[sashajwolf.livejournal.com]

Good luck for tomorrow!