I Didn’t Want My Son to Have Dwarfism. Not Really.

[elleng]

Pregnant? Me? Not going to happen. Or so I thought.

As the only person in my family with a rare form of dwarfism, diastrophic dysplasia, I spent my childhood fighting joint pain and muscle stiffness and enduring multiple bone corrective surgeries. I played with dolls when I could, but pretending to be a mommy didn’t seem right. Even after I gained 14 inches through a grueling (and highly controversial) limb-lengthening procedure, my body simply wasn’t like other girls’. Although the idea seemed beautiful, being a mother didn’t seem to be a part of my future.

So when my husband, a 6-foot tall, dark and handsome Marine, returned from his second tour in Iraq, we didn’t start having a conversation about having children — we avoided one. But every time Eric saw a little boy in a mini New York Yankees jersey, I could see his longing, and I also saw his fear in broaching the subject of having a child with me. I had said I probably couldn’t carry a baby, so he didn’t want to hurt my feelings. He needed to protect me from pain, so he supplied excuses convenient to both of us. “The economy is too uncertain right now for children,” he would say. “Let’s wait until I’m promoted.”

We were very careful. But life had other plans for us.

http://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/03/23/i-didnt-want-my-son-to-have-dwarfism-not-really/?hp

[sheshe2]

1. K&R

I can't ever imagine her pain and anxiety.

I didn’t have the luxury of simply being pregnant. I was labeled a high-risk mother, and my baby was labeled a high-risk baby. My doctor was concerned that there would be no room for a child to grow inside me, that my breathing would grow increasingly difficult.

So courageous.

Thanks ellen.

[Lugnut]

2. Thank you, Ellen.

K&R!

[question everything]

3. Why keep us in suspense?

Was glad to read that she has a "normal" child and is planning on another one.