Interview Section : Healthtalkonline

Full list of topics

The baby and the diagnosis :
Feelings about the pregnancy
Early scans and blood tests
Diagnostic tests - amnio and CVS
The 18-20 week scan and further tests
Understanding the baby's diagnosis

Deciding to end the pregnancy :
Looking for information and support
Ending the pregnancy for the baby's sake
Ending the pregnancy for family & personal reasons
Finding out how the pregnancy will end
The impact of the decision

Ending the pregnancy :
Signing the consent form
Ending the pregnancy surgically
Ending the pregnancy by induction
Going through labour and birth
Deciding whether to see, hold and name the baby
Photographs and other mementoes of the baby
Treatment, care and communication

Losing the baby :
Leaving hospital and going home
Deciding whether to have a post-mortem
Saying goodbye to the baby - sevices & funerals
Coping with bereavement - women's experiences
Coping with bereavement - men's experiences

The effects of ending a pregnancy :
Counselling and other kinds of support
Support groups
Deciding whether to have another baby
Men's ideas about their role in ending a pregnancy

Search the whole site
Search in this condition

Ending a pregnancy for fetal abnormality

People's stories

1-2 years since pregnancy ended

Interview 06

Interview 06

Age at Interview: 29
Background: Pregnancy ended in 2003. No of children 1 + [1]. Age of other child at interview: 4. Occupations: Mother - mother and housewife, Father - policeman. Marital status: married. Ethnic background: White British.

Brief outline:Their 2nd pregnancy: 20-week scan showed baby seemed small for his dates. Further specialist scans at 28 and 32 weeks showed baby's head was small. Mother also had amniocentesis and MRI scan. Baby diagnosed with microcephaly. Pregnancy ended at 34 weeks by feticide and induction.

To watch or read an interview clip, click on the heading that interests you. Either a video,audio recording or text will open, depending on the clip

To close transcript boxes, click here
To print the interview’s text, click here

Neither of them feel ready to have another baby because they haven't yet come to terms with the termination.
Print Mother: It won't happen again. Because I don't want - I'd have another baby tomorrow - but I wouldn't have the 9 months of pregnancy. I don't think I could go through another pregnancy and risk that happening to me again. But then I would like to have another baby, so it's sort of - I'm in a bit of a vicious circle and I obviously haven't come to terms with things - if you can come to terms with things - yet. Father: See, before this happened, if you'd have said well this was what was going to be the outcome of your pregnancy, I would never have begun to imagine how it would make us feel, and what the end results would be. So to go through it again - again I can't imagine from here where it would take you as a person - you know at times I've felt like it's utterly destroyed me.

Mail to a friend