As parents, the only thing we always ask for when we're on the family way, is to have a healthy baby. We may have gender preferences when we find out we are pregnant, but as soon as you hear your baby cry for the first time, gender will not really matter anymore. We all fall in love with our babies at first sight (maybe even before we see them).
When I was pregnant with baby J, I vowed to myself that I will try to be as healthy as I possibly could. I tried to do everything that would make her as healthy as possible. I stopped eating sashimi, stopped drinking caffeinated beverages, took vitamins and drank milk religiously, and tried not to expose myself to viruses. So, naturally, I had a very smooth pregnancy. All our check-ups were normal and baby J was at par with age every step of the way.
Because everything was normal, we knew we had a healthy baby. When I delivered, we naturally agreed to everything that would benefit our baby (that included Hearing screening, Neonatal screening, vaccines, etc.). We never worried about anything because even my delivery went smoothly.
But three weeks after delivery, I suddenly received a call from baby J's pediatrician. The Neonatal screening test results were back! And there was something wrong with my baby. Based on the screening test, baby J tested positive for Glucose-6-Phosphate Dehydrogenase deficiency (G6PD). Being a doctor, I knew it was not a serious problem, that we just had to be very careful with her food, environment, etc. But, despite this, my world still crumbled at the news. I cried after I put the phone down because I was already thinking about how her life would be when she grew up, with so many restrictions (on food, on drugs, even on the environment). I started educating my relatives about the restrictions for baby J when she got older.
At the same time that I was educating my family about G6PD, I was questioning the validity of the result because both the hubby's family and my family never had a relative with G6PD. I could not reconcile the positive result with the absence of a family history. The hubby and I decided to go to the National Institute of Health (NIH) to get a confirmatory test for baby J as well as for both of us, plus a cousin of mine. Baby J's result confirmed G6PD, and all our results didn't help either.
Despite the confirmatory test, I was still questioning the probability of baby J having it. So, during one discussion with a pediatrician about this, I was told that we can have the test repeated when baby J turned 6-8 months. So, when we moved back to our country of residence, I told baby J's new pediatrician about the result and the absent family history. Baby J's pediatrician then told me that we can do another test when she turned 8 months. So when the time came, I requested to do the test for baby J, despite knowing that she had to suffer another blood extraction. I was still hoping that we would get a different result since a lot of factors can affect the initial result.
After about two weeks, I then got a call from the pediatrician. The result for the test was... NORMAL!!! I felt so relieved and happy about it. I trusted my instinct and knowledge of science.
This is the first time I am openly sharing this. But I just wanted to share how an unhappy situation had a happy ending. I guess, there really is some truth to a mother's instinct! There's more than enough sad news out there, I hope this story sends out a message of happiness and hope.
