Homework

I finished my rough draft of a literature review on neural tube defects a few days ago. I still have the final draft to polish, but I'm happy with the progress I've made on the assignment so far. I chose neural tube defects as a topic because of Abigail. Her case of anencephaly was not classic. There's a different biological basis for her amniotic band syndrome than for classical neural tube defects like anencephaly and spina bifida. But even though her case isn't described in most of the studies and reviews I have read for this paper, a birth defect that impacts hundreds of thousands of babies each year worldwide is worth investigation. I feel a closeness to the other mothers in my anencephaly Facebook group. Our babies died of the same lack of a cranial vault and complications deriving from that. Learning more about anencephaly and its opposite neural tube defect, spina bifida, has been satisfying. I feel like I'm doing something.

I shared about this on my Facebook author page in a live video:



One thing I mention in the video toward the end is how hard it is for people to understand sometimes how parents feel when they receive this type of diagnosis for their babies. Sometimes medical professionals and others think terminating the pregnancy post-diagnosis would be the easiest thing, but it's not easy. A loss, at any stage of pregnancy, still feels like a loss. Pain is pain. Grief is grief. It does no good comparing one with another because these feelings are always keenly felt. They always feel huge. What most parents want, if they are shown their options and given enough information, is to have as much time with their children as possible. As a parent with intimate knowledge of how this feels, I feel like I have something to bring to this study that may be valuable to medical professionals and scientists. I want to study this more. Like I said, it makes me feel like I am doing something. I hope one day I will be able to add value to this scientific and human discussion on neural tube defects. For Abigail. For all the children with neural tube defects. For all the parents who are grieving and remembering their little ones.