There are a lot of questions when you find out about a prenatal diagnosis. There are the long range questions – will he walk, will he have friends, will he be happy, will he go to school? You want to know how this happened? Why this happened? I can’t really answers those, but I do know when.
28 days. That is how old the baby, the embryo, is when spina bifida happens. In the first 4 weeks, when the baby isn’t a baby, when it is an embryo smaller than anything you can imagine. THAT is the time things go wrong, when one tiny part of the tiny embryo does not fit together as neat as can be. A neural tube defect.
28 days, do we know why things went wrong? No. There are theories, folic acid, green tea, hot showers, genetics, bad luck, God’s plan and there may be a combination of many of these in the why’s.
Knowing when doesn't help anything. I could go into the whole folic acid thing - taking folic acid before you know you are pregnant. The importance of folic acid, but I was on folic acid and it still happened. But statistically yes, folic acid helps to decrease the chance of having a neural tube defect (i.e. spina bifida among other things).
I thought this was interesting to show when and how spina bifida occurs. and when I found the picture - I knew I had to post about it!
I thought this was interesting to show when and how spina bifida occurs. and when I found the picture - I knew I had to post about it!
I really like these posts, you have done an excellent job of explaining without getting too technical. It would have been nice to have this when I first found out (at 38 weeks) since I found the same scary stuff you had.
ReplyDeleteMy daughter was born with spinal bifida even dough my afp test was positive at 3 months pregnet, I was not informed of this untill I was 7 months. She is doing better then doctors expected but everyday is a challenge.
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