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American Morning

New Technology Lets Doctors Know What is Going on in the Womb Months Before a Baby is Born

Aired December 02, 2002 - 07:42   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: It used to be that the first inkling that parents had about the health of a baby was the instant after birth. That is no longer the case. New technology is letting doctors know what is going on in the womb months before a baby is born.
But when the news is not exactly what parents were expecting to hear, what happens then?

This morning, we're going to meet a couple who learned that their baby would be born with a serious heart defect and Down Syndrome.

Tierney and Greg Fairchild made the decision about what to do with that pregnancy, and they're joining us now, along with Mitchell Zuckoff, who wrote a story in his book, and it's called "Choosing Naia."

Good morning to all of you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good morning, Daryn.

KAGAN: A fascinating story to get to read and to live through in the book, and I want to start with you, Tierney and Greg.

First of all, take us back -- I guess about five years now. You were pregnant. It was your first baby that you were expecting. And like all of these expectant moms, you go and start having the tests. What was the first sign that things weren't exactly right?

TIERNEY FAIRCHILD, MOTHER: Well, we were at a routine ultrasound, and about 22 weeks, and we were actually getting ready to go on vacation. We thought everything was going to go fine. And in the ultrasound, they detected a heart defect. There weren't -- all four chambers weren't visible.

KAGAN: Which doctors know is an indication that there might be something even more serious wrong than just the heart defect.

GREG FAIRCHILD, FATHER: It's highly correlated with Down Syndrome, so yes.

KAGAN: And then, how long after that did you find out that indeed you were carrying a Downs baby?

T. FAIRCHILD: Well, we had an amnio, and we waited the 10 days that it took in a kind of agony of waiting, and did find out that indeed she not only had the heart defect, but as well had Down Syndrome.

KAGAN: And how far, Tierney, at that point were you into your pregnancy?

T. FAIRCHILD: I was -- you know, I was about 22-23-24 weeks, and it was, you know, very close to the legal limit of terminating the pregnancy, which I wasn't even thinking about at the time before this had happened.

KAGAN: And so, you had a decision to make as a couple with this information. So, you had about a few weeks to make a decision about the rest of your lives and the life of this baby that you were carrying.

T. FAIRCHILD: Right.

G. FAIRCHILD: Right.

KAGAN: What were those -- how do you even make a decision like that?

G. FAIRCHILD: Well, you know, when couples think about having a baby, the last thing they think about is having a baby that might have some sort of defect or something that's wrong. And you know, we talked certainly, but not about this. And so, we began an information search. We talked to doctors, we talked to family members, we talked to clergy, we talked, we prayed.

We challenged ourselves at every stage to really find out what we could about what we would be facing, and then even at the end, to still know that we wouldn't be able to answer all of our questions; that we'd have to take some sort of leap of faith.

KAGAN: And, Mitch, this is about the time you come into their lives...

MITCHELL ZUCKOFF, AUTHOR: Exactly.

KAGAN: ... as a reporter, as a journalist, as a writer, trying to tell a story. And what you saw here was science has gone so far, our emotional and ethical abilities perhaps haven't caught up with that quite yet.

ZUCKOFF: Exactly. We've got this explosion you mentioned before, Daryn. You know, there's this explosion of knowledge, but nobody is sort of taking you by the hand and saying what works and what doesn't. How do you work through a decision like this and to feel good about it at the end, regardless of what you choose?

You know, for Tierney and Greg, they made the decision that was absolutely right for them, because of the process they went through. But too often, you have parents getting this information, the doctor says, you know, so long, you know, have a good weekend...

T. FAIRCHILD: Good luck, yes.

ZUCKOFF: ... best of luck, and call your clergyman. There's got to be something better than that, because we've got this information, we've got to figure out how to use it.

KAGAN: I honestly don't think that it ruins the book, because it is so fascinating to go through this journey with you, to let our viewers know what your decision was.

T. FAIRCHILD: Sure. Well, of course, we decided to continue the pregnancy, and we delivered a baby girl, Naia.

KAGAN: Who is now 4 years old.

J. FAIRCHILD: Four years old, yes.

T. FAIRCHILD: She is now 4. And it was a -- I was so pleased that we were so prepared after. We were very prepared for what we were facing, because we did find out before.

J. FAIRCHILD: We were prepared for what we were facing from a medical standpoint, but what we didn't know was all of the wonderful things about our daughter. I mean, the doctors don't give you the opportunity to think about that all of the time.

And so, you know, we never knew that she was going to be a child with a great sense of humor. We didn't know that every day she was going to come home having learned something that we thought was just amazing. We didn't know all of these great things about her. We knew what we faced medically, but not the social.

ZUCKOFF: One of the things that you find out when you do this kind of work is when people get a diagnosis like this, they're inevitably going to hear stories, old wives' tales -- things about from 50 years ago somebody knew somebody with Down Syndrome who was not very high functioning, lives a horrible life. I think they're out of date. They're not -- you know, they're not hearing the story that Greg is telling about what a wonderful and joyous joyful child they have.

KAGAN: On the other hand, you're not making a judgment here, because I know people are going to hear your story, read the book, and on either side of the abortion debate, be able to pull examples and say, see, this supports our argument. You're not making that judgment, because you also talked to another family that made a different choice.

ZUCKOFF: Exactly. The wonderful family, the Bento (ph) family, who were facing the same decision that Tierney and Greg faced at the same time, with almost the exact same diagnosis. And they made the decision that was right for them. They also worked it through. They had experience with working with children with developmental disabilities, and they made a different decision. They chose to terminate the pregnancy, and they're fine with it. They're happy. They've gone on to have another child, and that was right for them. KAGAN: And just quickly in the minute we have left, I thought it was interesting in reading through the book, you two have since had another baby.

J. FAIRCHILD: Sure.

KAGAN: The second time around, you chose not to make use of all of the technology that was available to you. Kind of too much information you thought, perhaps?

T. FAIRCHILD: Well, our doctor said what I really needed was things that were 100 percent accurate, and so we followed closely with ultrasound, but we chose not to have any amnio. And we chose not to, because we figured we knew what it was like to have a child with special needs. And there is a risk with doing an amniocentesis. So, we thought that it was more important for us to pray and to know that it was something that we could handle whatever basically (ph).

KAGAN: And quickly, your advice to parents out there who might be facing a similar decision, get information.

T. FAIRCHILD: Very much so.

J. FAIRCHILD: And my advice is, as this information comes to you, first of all take a minute. You're going to be shocked. Then begin talking, begin listening, being paying attention to the wealth of people that you have available, including people who might have children already like the problem you're facing.

KAGAN: Thank you so much. Such a personal story, and I know there's a lot of people out there who can appreciate your experience. The Fairchilds, Mr. Zuckoff, thanks for being with us here this morning.

ZUCKOFF: Thank you.

T. FAIRCHILD: Thank you.

J. FAIRCHILD: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.





Womb Months Before a Baby is Born>


Aired December 2, 2002 - 07:42   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: It used to be that the first inkling that parents had about the health of a baby was the instant after birth. That is no longer the case. New technology is letting doctors know what is going on in the womb months before a baby is born.
But when the news is not exactly what parents were expecting to hear, what happens then?

This morning, we're going to meet a couple who learned that their baby would be born with a serious heart defect and Down Syndrome.

Tierney and Greg Fairchild made the decision about what to do with that pregnancy, and they're joining us now, along with Mitchell Zuckoff, who wrote a story in his book, and it's called "Choosing Naia."

Good morning to all of you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good morning, Daryn.

KAGAN: A fascinating story to get to read and to live through in the book, and I want to start with you, Tierney and Greg.

First of all, take us back -- I guess about five years now. You were pregnant. It was your first baby that you were expecting. And like all of these expectant moms, you go and start having the tests. What was the first sign that things weren't exactly right?

TIERNEY FAIRCHILD, MOTHER: Well, we were at a routine ultrasound, and about 22 weeks, and we were actually getting ready to go on vacation. We thought everything was going to go fine. And in the ultrasound, they detected a heart defect. There weren't -- all four chambers weren't visible.

KAGAN: Which doctors know is an indication that there might be something even more serious wrong than just the heart defect.

GREG FAIRCHILD, FATHER: It's highly correlated with Down Syndrome, so yes.

KAGAN: And then, how long after that did you find out that indeed you were carrying a Downs baby?

T. FAIRCHILD: Well, we had an amnio, and we waited the 10 days that it took in a kind of agony of waiting, and did find out that indeed she not only had the heart defect, but as well had Down Syndrome.

KAGAN: And how far, Tierney, at that point were you into your pregnancy?

T. FAIRCHILD: I was -- you know, I was about 22-23-24 weeks, and it was, you know, very close to the legal limit of terminating the pregnancy, which I wasn't even thinking about at the time before this had happened.

KAGAN: And so, you had a decision to make as a couple with this information. So, you had about a few weeks to make a decision about the rest of your lives and the life of this baby that you were carrying.

T. FAIRCHILD: Right.

G. FAIRCHILD: Right.

KAGAN: What were those -- how do you even make a decision like that?

G. FAIRCHILD: Well, you know, when couples think about having a baby, the last thing they think about is having a baby that might have some sort of defect or something that's wrong. And you know, we talked certainly, but not about this. And so, we began an information search. We talked to doctors, we talked to family members, we talked to clergy, we talked, we prayed.

We challenged ourselves at every stage to really find out what we could about what we would be facing, and then even at the end, to still know that we wouldn't be able to answer all of our questions; that we'd have to take some sort of leap of faith.

KAGAN: And, Mitch, this is about the time you come into their lives...

MITCHELL ZUCKOFF, AUTHOR: Exactly.

KAGAN: ... as a reporter, as a journalist, as a writer, trying to tell a story. And what you saw here was science has gone so far, our emotional and ethical abilities perhaps haven't caught up with that quite yet.

ZUCKOFF: Exactly. We've got this explosion you mentioned before, Daryn. You know, there's this explosion of knowledge, but nobody is sort of taking you by the hand and saying what works and what doesn't. How do you work through a decision like this and to feel good about it at the end, regardless of what you choose?

You know, for Tierney and Greg, they made the decision that was absolutely right for them, because of the process they went through. But too often, you have parents getting this information, the doctor says, you know, so long, you know, have a good weekend...

T. FAIRCHILD: Good luck, yes.

ZUCKOFF: ... best of luck, and call your clergyman. There's got to be something better than that, because we've got this information, we've got to figure out how to use it.

KAGAN: I honestly don't think that it ruins the book, because it is so fascinating to go through this journey with you, to let our viewers know what your decision was.

T. FAIRCHILD: Sure. Well, of course, we decided to continue the pregnancy, and we delivered a baby girl, Naia.

KAGAN: Who is now 4 years old.

J. FAIRCHILD: Four years old, yes.

T. FAIRCHILD: She is now 4. And it was a -- I was so pleased that we were so prepared after. We were very prepared for what we were facing, because we did find out before.

J. FAIRCHILD: We were prepared for what we were facing from a medical standpoint, but what we didn't know was all of the wonderful things about our daughter. I mean, the doctors don't give you the opportunity to think about that all of the time.

And so, you know, we never knew that she was going to be a child with a great sense of humor. We didn't know that every day she was going to come home having learned something that we thought was just amazing. We didn't know all of these great things about her. We knew what we faced medically, but not the social.

ZUCKOFF: One of the things that you find out when you do this kind of work is when people get a diagnosis like this, they're inevitably going to hear stories, old wives' tales -- things about from 50 years ago somebody knew somebody with Down Syndrome who was not very high functioning, lives a horrible life. I think they're out of date. They're not -- you know, they're not hearing the story that Greg is telling about what a wonderful and joyous joyful child they have.

KAGAN: On the other hand, you're not making a judgment here, because I know people are going to hear your story, read the book, and on either side of the abortion debate, be able to pull examples and say, see, this supports our argument. You're not making that judgment, because you also talked to another family that made a different choice.

ZUCKOFF: Exactly. The wonderful family, the Bento (ph) family, who were facing the same decision that Tierney and Greg faced at the same time, with almost the exact same diagnosis. And they made the decision that was right for them. They also worked it through. They had experience with working with children with developmental disabilities, and they made a different decision. They chose to terminate the pregnancy, and they're fine with it. They're happy. They've gone on to have another child, and that was right for them. KAGAN: And just quickly in the minute we have left, I thought it was interesting in reading through the book, you two have since had another baby.

J. FAIRCHILD: Sure.

KAGAN: The second time around, you chose not to make use of all of the technology that was available to you. Kind of too much information you thought, perhaps?

T. FAIRCHILD: Well, our doctor said what I really needed was things that were 100 percent accurate, and so we followed closely with ultrasound, but we chose not to have any amnio. And we chose not to, because we figured we knew what it was like to have a child with special needs. And there is a risk with doing an amniocentesis. So, we thought that it was more important for us to pray and to know that it was something that we could handle whatever basically (ph).

KAGAN: And quickly, your advice to parents out there who might be facing a similar decision, get information.

T. FAIRCHILD: Very much so.

J. FAIRCHILD: And my advice is, as this information comes to you, first of all take a minute. You're going to be shocked. Then begin talking, begin listening, being paying attention to the wealth of people that you have available, including people who might have children already like the problem you're facing.

KAGAN: Thank you so much. Such a personal story, and I know there's a lot of people out there who can appreciate your experience. The Fairchilds, Mr. Zuckoff, thanks for being with us here this morning.

ZUCKOFF: Thank you.

T. FAIRCHILD: Thank you.

J. FAIRCHILD: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.





Womb Months Before a Baby is Born>