Mid august, “responsability” will get a new meaning: my wife is into the 15th week of our third pregnancy.<br />
We actually already should've become parents last november, but almost halfway through the first pregnancy the child had stopped growing and was diagnosed with <a onclick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/extlink/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patau_syndrome');" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patau_syndrome">trisomy 13</a>, because of a hereditary <a onclick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/extlink/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robertsonian_translocation');" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robertsonian_translocation">Robertsonian translocation</a> that Veerle turned out to be having. Short of waiting for the pregnancy to spontaneously abort, the only way to deliver the child was induced labour. We already knew from the <a onclick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/extlink/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karyotype');" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karyotype">karyogram</a> that had uncovered the trisomy syndrome that it was a boy, though it was impossible to see that. The little fellow was about two thirds the length he should've been, and weighed about one third the normal weight.<br />
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We visited a fertility clinic a few weeks afterwards, but were told that the actual chance of us getting a healthy baby was a lot higher when we would naturally conceive than through in vitro fertilization. The only advantage of the latter method would be near elimination of the 50% chance to a failed pregnancy of natural conception. (For clarification: due to the translocation, there's a two-in-four chance that a conceived child carries an incorrect number of chromosomes; such embryos have a near-zero chance of making it through the pregnancy)<br />
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By the end of summer, Veerle was pregnant again. This time however it lasted for only seven weeks, after which the foetus died. Examination of a tissue sample again uncovered trisomy 13 syndrome. And it was again a boy.<br />
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Now it's the third pregnancy, and almost three weeks ago a <a onclick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/extlink/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chorionic_villus_sampling');" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chorionic_villus_sampling">chorionic villus sampling</a> was performed to determine if this time the child would be healthy. Although a <a onclick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/extlink/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluorescent_in_situ_hybridization');" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluorescent_in_situ_hybridization">FISH</a> (“<i>fluorescent in situ hybridization</i>”) test performed in the first two days showed no sign of problems, it was only after the liberating phonecall that came in yesterday that we could take a deep breath and smile. The baby has inherited the Robertsonian translocation though, but that doesn't lessen our joy.<br />
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As a side effect of the karyogram, we also know the gender weeks before ultrasound might reveal it. However, I haven't secured the necessary permit to disclose this information. I'll tell everyone in half a year from now...