"I've never seen a baby this sick make it out alive" still haunts me.

I went to my first trimester ultrasound expecting to see a healthy baby like I did with my daughter. However the doctor found a cystic hygroma behind the neck as well as abdominal fluid. She said that something was very wrong and referred us to a fe4netic councelor.

The words "I've never seen a baby this sick make it out alive" still haunts me. The likely culprit was either Down Syndrome or Turner Syndrome, most likely accomanied by a serious heart defect called hypoplastic left heart syndrome. The only way a baby survies that is several "hail mary" surgeries shortly after birth, and then a heart transplant. Otherwise they die.

With that news we opted for Chorionic Villus Sampling to check the baby's chromosomes. My husband and I talked about the possible outcomes, and while we felt that WE could handle the circumstances, it boiled down to should we make our baby handle them? Our answer was no.

One week later at thirteen weeks gestation I got a phone call from my OB after hours. She didn't want to call me at work. Our baby had full Turner Syndrome. Every cell in her body (all turner babies are female) was missing an X chromosome. Full Turner Syndrome babies almost never make it to birth, unlike those with mosaic Turners (only missing X's in some cells). The cystic hygroma meant that she most likely had HLHS though it was too early to tell.

I had a D&C 2 days later What many people don't understand about 2nd trimester abortion is that the babies DONT feel pain. Not just because they scientifically are not able to, but that prior to a D&E the doctor will cut the umbilical cord and let the baby die first before proceeding. Another option is an injection to stop the baby's heart. In my case, general anesthesia passes through the placenta. My baby was sleeping like me. so all this pain capable 20 week abortion ban is a BS law with ZERO understanding of the medical procedure. If they are that worried about a baby feeling pain, then they should know that had I let nature take its course, my baby would have accumulated fluid to the point in her gestation where she COULD feel pain, and then her heart would stop due to the fluid. If she made it to birth her suffering would be even worse..