Hi Bridget,
My name is Chantell and I'm 29 weeks pregnant w/ my anencephalic
son. I have one son who is 2 years old. I also decided to carry to
term and have understanding physicians. You are correct, there is
not much info out there. One thing that helped tremendously for me
is joining another online support group here on yahoo
called "Anencephalic Blessings from above (ABFA)", which supports
members who decide to carry to term. I have found such wisdom and
comfort from the moms who have already gone through this whole
experience. Sometimes hearing things first hand is the best kind of
resource. I've included the link for you below:
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/anencephalyblessingsfromabove/

Regards,
Chantell

--- In anencephaly@yahoogroups.com, "dbabishop" <dbabishop@...>
wrote:
>
> My name is Bridget. I've been married for 9 years, and we have 4
> beautiful daughters already. Now, I'm 21 weeks pregnant with our
> 5th daughter, who has anencephaly. I've tried to do research on
the
> internet about anencephaly, but it seems that there really isn't
> that much information out there. I keep coming across the same
> information in different websites, all copied from the NINDS
website
> it seems (although Wikipedia has some original, but very
sketchy).
> I guess this condition is so rare, and it's even rarer for moms to
> choose to carry to term, and in the past doctors didn't care to
> categorize or evaluate the details of the preganancies or
> deliveries. Even now, it seems that many in the medical
profession
> don't care much about babies who are going to die anyway. (I've
> been fortunate that my own doctor has been very compassionate.) I
> want to carry my daughter for as long as possible, and I want to
do
> the best I can to bring her alive into this world. I've read that
a
> c-section improves chances of a live birth; another mom claimed
that
> breaking the amniotic sac to induce or speed up labor is stressful
> to the baby and may hasten death. But I can't confirm that
> anywhere. If anyone has concrete information, or knows where I
can
> find credible research sources, I'd appreciate it.
>
> Thanks,
> Bridget
>