A legacy of maternal strength

I hope to be able to leave a legacy of maternal strength to my daughters. We are very happy to announce that we are pregnant with a baby girl due this fall! We can hardly contain our happiness to be having a healthy baby. But with this joy also comes some apprehension because, like me, she is also a carrier.

For Brian and me, choosing when to have children has been both the most wonderful as well as the most terrifying experiences. As many of our friends and family know, I have a chromosomal balanced translocation. There is a lot of genetic jargon to explain what a balanced translocation is but most simply put it means that when I have children there is a 50/50 chance at conception of having a severally handicapped child. Brian and I both knew that we wanted to have children but with my condition the when and how can be quite complicated. We have made all of our procreative decisions very seriously and prayerfully. I am thankful to have had my parents to look to as examples and support in our tough circumstances. And most importantly to have a wonderful husband to love me and listen to my endless chatter and nervousness about this issue.

We have been dying to announce that we are expecting for several weeks but we wanted to wait until we knew more about the baby. Concealing the pregnancy grew ever difficult because it seemed my body knew just what to do the third time around! I am 18 weeks along, and besides lots of fatigue, the pregnancy has been very smooth sailing!