What They Don't Know
This was my first attempt at writing an essay about my experience. I wrote it in April 2012. “The preliminary results show a problem with chromosome 13. This is very serious...,” the doctor said with a grave expression. “That’s the one which is incompatible with life, right?” “It can be.” The doctor and I were referring to trisomy 13, and that’s how our story begins. My second son, Caleb, was born on March 25, 2010, three weeks ahead of time. We knew there was a chance that something might be wrong since a couple of soft markers had been detected during my first level 2 ultrasound. However, after a re-check a month later, we had been reassured by an optimistic perinatologist that there was a 95% chance that everything was normal. After all, if they did imaging tests on each of us, we would all find out we are somewhat different. Caleb was so much a surprise to us as he was to the doctors. You see, Caleb has very few of the common physical traits seen in trisomy 13. He is