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With today’s technology, many parents learn about the existence of disabilities even before the child is born. There are positives and negatives to this. On the positive side, parents can use this time to prepare themselves mentally and emotionally for the birth of this child. They can become educated on what the disability is, what challenges they’ll likely face, and how they can parent that child to the best of their ability. They can also do their best to prevent more damage by having the mother be careful during the rest of her pregnancy and sometimes surgeries can be performed while the child is still in the womb that can help increase survival rates.
Still, knowing that the child will be handicapped can also create a lot of anxiety before the baby is born. Will the baby live after birth? How severe will the disability be? Is it possible that I will do something that will worsen the baby’s condition while still in the womb? Even if some of these anxieties are irrational, these questions will often plague parents as they wait for the baby to be born. In addition to these questions, questions of the cost of health care when the child is born are another concern. Many children who are born with health problems often need to be put into the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit) and may have surgeries — all adding to the cost of the delivery.
What can make it even harder is that some of these babies don’t have clear conditions that have been documented in the past. With so many tests available nowadays, including ones that examine DNA intricately looking abnormalities, sometimes results are that something is wrong, but it won’t be determined exactly what until the baby is born with some conditions being found over time.
For these parents, venturing into the unknown is especially scary. Support groups of other parents with special needs children can help, whether online or in person. No matter what, children are a joy and a blessing, and you may be surprised by how much love these children give.
