Pregnant Couple Who Expects Identical Twins Gets Distressing News From Doctor Who Told Them He’s ‘Sorry’
Oct 26, 2023 by apost team
When waiting for a new baby to arrive, most families are just concerned about their children’s health. For this reason, not everyone chooses to undergo genetic screening before their babies are born. While an ultrasound can reveal the baby’s sex and number, it cannot detect any underlying conditions.
In the case of Matt and Jodi Parry experienced a whirlwind of emotions when they discovered they were expecting twins. However, their joy quickly turned into worry and fear when the doctor shared a life-altering revelation. Their daughters, Abigail and Isobel, were born prematurely and spent a month in neonatal intensive care.
“When the doctors took us to one side to give us the results the one thing he said to us was that he was sorry that Abigail and Isobel both have Down’s syndrome. To this day, I’ll never know what he was sorry for. And I think if I could ever meet them again I’d like to show him Abigail and Isobel and kind of say “Why did you say sorry? because we wouldn’t change Abigail and Isobel for the world now,” Jodi said in an interview with BBC 3.
The statistics for how many babies are born with Down syndrome report that the likelihood of both twins developing the disorder is extremely low. Down syndrome, also known as trisomy 21, is a genetic disorder caused by the presence of an extra copy or part of chromosome 21. Since they received the news Jodi admitted that it was a lot to take in but they remained strong.
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Recalling that moment to The Mirror, Jodi revealed that when they received the news that their twins were diagnosed with Down Syndrome, “it felt like a life sentence.”
“That day, I didn’t feel like a mother. I just felt lost and confused. I had bleak visions of the future. I thought we’d be carers until we dropped dead,” she wrote to the outlet.
According to Jodi, when the doctor said that he was “sorry” – everything he said after became a blur – “the first words that came out of his mouth, is the thing that stayed with us. We had so many questions. Would the girls walk? Would they talk? We knew nothing about Down’s syndrome and left the hospital with no answers, no information, just fear and dread.”
However, Jodi and Matt are living in a different reality now. Since they left the hospital, they have been doing an exceptional job living and raising their eldest child, Finn, and the twins, Abigail and Isobel.
Jodi believes that if there had been more understanding and attentiveness towards them as parents, their distress would have been acknowledged, and they would have been better equipped with the necessary information for their daughters’ future – not just some scientific jargon about their extra chromosomes.
“I don’t care biologically about the girls. I don’t care how many chromosomes they’ve got. All I mind is – Will they walk? Will they talk? Will they interact? I’ve learned that there is no difference between them and Finley… Their persistence is amazing,” Matt told BBC 3.
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What can you say about Matt and Jodi’s journey in raising their Down Syndrome twins? Do you think the doctor should have phrased his statement differently? Do you know someone who also experienced the same? Let us know, and pass this on to your family, friends, and other loved ones!