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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsPro-life rep's "miracle" baby survives due to cutting edge medical procedures
man, there is so much wrong with how this story is presented.
Republican Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler celebrates miracle baby girl born with Potters Sequence, likely first survivor of rare condition as doctors say they are 'cautiously optimistic'
Republican Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler is celebrating the arrival of her miracle baby, born with a rare and usually fatal condition known as Potter's Sequence.
The staunchly pro-life congresswoman revealed the devastating diagnosis earlier in her pregnancy but was resolved to bring the baby to term and now is celebrating the now 2-week birthday of baby Abigail Rose - thought to be the first baby to survive the condition.
Doctors remain "cautiously optimistic" about the future but called the babys survival unprecedented.
<snip>
She underwent an experimental procedure at The Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Md., called amnioinfusion, when doctors injected saline solution into the womb to facilitate lung development.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/republican-rep-jaime-herrera-beutler-celebrates-miracle-baby-girl-born-potter-sequence-article-1.1411714#ixzz2aScLCIJl
VanillaRhapsody
(21,115 posts)that has eyeball on the bottoms of its little feet? They seem to think that never happens.
HockeyMom
(14,337 posts)They just think Downs when it comes to disabilities. If ONLY that was the case.
hedgehog
(36,286 posts)cali
(114,904 posts)of the op, your comment seems sort of a non sequitur.
BainsBane
(53,035 posts)Republican, pro-life, or teabagger, or not, I wish their family all the best.
cali
(114,904 posts)it wasn't to rag on the baby. It was to make two points: this woman as a U.S. rep has excellent health care insurance that most women in this country don't have during their pregnancies and deliveries and to note that she was able to access cutting edge medical technology to produce this miracle, as well as noting that she's adamantly anti-choice from the time of conception and would force other women to do as she did.
BainsBane
(53,035 posts)after children are born. Pro-life has never really meant pro-life. It means eliminating women's reproductive choices.
NoOneMan
(4,795 posts)If God does not care about poor babies, does he care if poor people get abortions?
Arkansas Granny
(31,518 posts)when she decided to continue her pregnancy. This is the choice that the "pro-lifers" are willing to take away from other women.
COLGATE4
(14,732 posts)believes this is proof positive that all those lazy women who get abortions are just thwarting God's will. After all, SHE didn't abort and look what happened!
Arkansas Granny
(31,518 posts)Bettie
(16,110 posts)Losing a wanted child is a horrible experience.
However, an average family would not be able to afford this kind of procedure, nor would insurance pay for it in most cases.
She should be grateful that she has the coverage/financial ability to ensure that her child had a chance that most other families faced with this do not have.
I hope that the child continues to do well.
Lithos
(26,403 posts)But the question is what caused Potter's sequence which is not a disease in itself, but a common set of symptoms/outcomes which may be caused by a variety of issues. Ie, Potter's sequence is what happens when insufficient amniotic fluid is present. What few people understand is that the amniotic fluid is actually generated in the back half of a pregnancy by the baby's kidney's. Or if you want to be crass, amniotic fluid is the baby's urine. Something caused the baby to not create the necessary urine.
This can be as minor as a blocked urethra (atresia) to full on kidney failure. This is not as rare as the media itself is presenting. One illness is called "Prune Belly" We had this for what would have been our first born baby. In this case the urethra failed to correctly develop. What they were going to do until he (the fetus) in turn decided to miscarry was to put in a shunt from the bladder which would have allowed the fluid. A fairly common procedure 10 years ago.
My uneducated guess is that because they did not opt for this procedure, the baby also suffers from additional kidney issues which will likely mean a complicated life at best depending on if it impacts other organs.
1awake
(1,494 posts)except most pro-life supporters are far from meeting that definition. To them, pro-life begins and ends with doing away with abortion and has very little to do with assuring the life of a baby, or anyone else for that matter. I guess medical services etc doesn't count in some people's pro-life world.