What is Healthy?

As I sit here sniffling and sneezing after a week of Coraline having croup and a double ear infection, I've been thinking a lot about what it means to be 'healthy' and prenatal testing. There is an irony around Sam regularly being the healthiest member of our family. Seriously this boy has an immune system of steal! Since coming home from the NICU, and his initial bout of pneumonia (due to low tone and acid reflux) Sam has never had a fever, never had an ear infection, and never been on antibiotic.

Reflecting back to what was said (verbally, and through advertisement) while I was pregnant...  prenatal tests (screenings and diagnosis) are presented as a way to make sure your 'baby is healthy'. But, I think what is not said is profoundly more important. What is implied is if these tests come back 'positive' that your baby is not healthy. The truth about the test results is all it actually means is your baby is just different, it's not broken, or sick, just different.

I think (well at least I'm going to choose to see the glass half full on this one) the true development of prenatal diagnosis was get the unborn baby as much help as possible following birth, if something potentially life threatening was discovered. Unfortunately, due the fear of being different and the ignorance of the medical community (Not intended to insult my friends in the medical community, I'm not talking about you!), prenatal testing in its current use and form is eugenics.

The more I reflect on the current usage of prenatal testing, I can't help but start seeing my glass as half empty, I have a nagging fear that the Star Trek story may have gotten something right about eugenics and humanity. I fear that humanity, at its core, is too arrogant, vain, and obsessed with intelligence and power, to not abuse the knowledge that is gained through genetic testing and the mapping of the human genome. It scares me to think of a future where the human race is being designed around the fickle hearts of man and his 'infinite wisdom'.

 This gets back to the purpose of this blog, not to give me a soap box to rant from, but to help break down incorrect stereotypes about Down syndrome. Having Down syndrome does not mean a baby is not healthy.

Sam wishing we weren't all sick, so we could play!