Last Thursday, I met my mom at the Oak Hills Cemetery where the Angel statue is that I talked about in this post. The statue is so beautiful, and I know I will be visiting often. I am thinking about having a brick engraved and placed around the statue. It’s relatively inexpensive, and I think it would be a beautiful gesture to honor our two angels.
Just as I was pulling into the cemetery, my doctor called. Eerie timing.
She said our test results had already come back from Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. She was shocked to see them come in after only 10 days (she estimated 3-6 weeks) and after my surgery she was not very confident that there would even be enough tissue to test. But there was! The cultures grew in 6 days, and the results showed a chromosomal abnormality, which essentially is what we were hoping for. The full test results were mailed to our house, but she gave me the “cliff notes” in the meantime.
Our baby had a G-Banded Karyotype of: 47, XY, +16.
This means – Of all the cells tested, each cell had 47 chromosomes instead of a normal 46, an extra 16th chromosome in each. Diagnosed as Full Trisomy 16. She went on to explain that Trisomy 16 is the most common of the Trisomies, and Full Trisomy 16 always results in a first trimester loss. A fetus with Partial or Mosaic versions of Trisomy 16 can survive, but a Full diagnosis will not.
XY refers to the sex chromosomes. Our sweet baby angel was a BOY.
Cue all the tears.
The report suggested that we meet with a Genetics Counselor, and she agreed. She made a note on the report of the number to call. She said we should both get tested to see if either of us is a carrier of this abnormality, or any others. After some Google research I don’t think Trisomy 16 is necessarily something we can carry, like other Trisomies. But, we should probably not rely on Dr. Google – and meet with an expert to be sure. 🙂
When I hung up the phone, I quickly filled in my mom and Justin with the news from the Doctor. I was so glad to have my mom with me so we could walk around the cemetery and talk through everything I was feeling at that exact moment. To have an answer felt like a weight had been lifted off of my chest, but there is still so much uncertainty, too. It was GUT-WRENCHING to find out the gender, but also sort-of comforting, in a way. Staring at that angel statue, I knew our baby boy was in the arms of God, free from harm, and hanging out with our other angel baby, my Grandpa, and all our other loved ones we dearly miss.
We don’t know yet exactly what this means for future pregnancies, so please continue to keep us in your prayers as we learn more.
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