Just the mention of the words birth defects can create panic for the expectant mom. The reality is there are thousands of kinds of birth defects that range from mild to severe to deadly. Fortunately, however, science continues to race to try to find the answers to many birth defects and works just as hard in hopes of finding a cure.
In the meantime, many common birth defects affect more than 100,000 children born in the U.S. each year. This is by no means a comfort to the parent or parents who are hoping for a healthy child but instead learn that they have a baby with a birth defect.
Some birth defects can be detected before birth or in vitro, meaning while still in the womb. Perhaps the greatest risk to these detections comes from those assessments made based on chromosomal counts or amniotic fluid. For example, when expecting my third child, I was told that he had a fatal birth defect known as Trisomy 18 and advised that I should terminate the pregnancy because he would, at the longest, live only a deteriorated condition of life for a year.
While I cannot advise you to take the course of action that I did, I can inform you of the outcome of my actions. I ignored the advice of the doctor and decided to carry the baby to term. My son was born weighing a healthy 8 pounds, defect-free and we celebrated his 5th birthday this year.
Other birth defects related to the unborn child’s body or metabolism are typically indisputable because they are visible on ultrasounds. Some birth defects such as heart problems, can now be surgically corrected before the child is even born. Metabolic birth defects are typically not curable and can often be fatal or result in a deteriorated condition of life. All birth defects are the result of a defective imbalance that can be the result of genetics, the birth environment, or other factors that may not be able to be determined.
Congenital birth defects take place when the expectant mother contracts some sort of infection such as chicken pox or rubella. When this happens, the development of the fetus is negatively impacted and a birth defect becomes the result. Not all mothers who become infected during pregnancy give birth to a baby with a birth defect but the percentages are small.
Some common types of birth defects are cleft lip, neural tube defects, heart defects, cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, and sickle cell disease. Understanding the nature of these birth defects along with other kinds of birth defects comes from having regular prenatal screening done. Birth defects that may benefit from early detection cannot be discovered without the necessary prenatal screening.
Many birth defects are mild in nature and can be managed so that the child can live a relatively problem-free lifestyle. Birth defects that are more severe in nature can be stressful for the child and the parents and should be treated with the best possible medical care that can be afforded.
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