HELP!! Science / Math Question

[Amelia Bedelia]

so is my baby okay? and is it the white baby on the left, or the two in the middle?  I'm so confused... I understood Mary is AB but after that I got lost...

[newkris]

and what we all really want to know, especially mary AB, is  . . . WHO IS ROBERT!!! 

[Amelia Bedelia]

I wish I knew!!! Let me know if the other questions shed some light on where he's hiding

[newkris]

where's the chief investigator when we got a good case for him? 

[nicolejoy]

So now we not that both Robert and Mary ARE carriers?

As to whether they should get preimplantation testing, if they were Catholics they probably would just leave it in the hands of God right? No birth control, no intervention etc??

[newkris]

yep, both carriers.  and you're right, good catholics would probably have them not use anything.  of course, if they are modern catholics . . . anything goes! 

turned the paper in last night so we'll see what happens.  it will be a couple of weeks before i know.

i do have one more quiz from that class so if i get stuck again . .  .i'll put the question here! 

and then there is the question of Mary AB and the identity of robert. 

[nicolejoy]

I'm kind of torn about the issue of preimplantation testing. I'm all for prenatal testing and not terminating regardless of the outcome - but preimplantation testing is $$$ (particularly if you don't have a problem with fertility in the first place) and if the disease isn't life threatening (and sickle cell isn't - although it does lead to lower quality of life and shorter lifespan), I personally wouldn't do it. If it was a life/death situation though I might do it in that situation... but even then I'm not 100% sure...

There is a chance that whatever our bub has may be genetic so we'll need to deal with those kinds of questions, what we'd do if we are both carriers of something... we always wanted 3 kids so if we are carriers, our options pretty much are a) take the chance, or b) adopt or something like that... In our situation, I don't even think that preimplantation testing is an option.

[newkris]

i was VERY surprised to learn that two of the girls in my class of about 12 had dealt with infertility by using implantation.  the cost, to me, is astronomical.  and, i don't know, i think of all the foster kids who are wishing they could be adopted and i just wonder why they don't adopt. i realize all of the conflicts that come with that, too, but . . .  maybe . . .just maybe . . .  God made it difficult for one to help another.  just a thought.

but i'm not in their shoes, so i don't know.

i was also surprised to know they could afford it.  who has that kind of money?  and what if the eggs don't "take"?  the you spent the money for nothing.  if they used it to adopt, they would have a child. 

[nicolejoy]

And then there's "embryo adoption" as well... personally I don't think I'd do that. I don't LOVE being pregnant and would be just as happy to adopt a one year old, I think... *shrugs* but I know there are benefits to embryo adoption as well - at least that way they don't come with so much baggage...

[newkris]

we live in an interesting time.

i know that God has allowed man to have this much knowledge, but i wonder what He thinks of what man does with that knowledge. 

[Amelia Bedelia]

I think I'm with you Kris, as much as my body, hormones and all is programed to want to carry and have my own baby... if I couldn't have one I think I'd turn to foster/adoption before going into messing with my body... I'd get things checked out of course and if it was a simple fix of course try to make myself healthy but I wouldn't fight nature and channel all of modern science into making my baby.

I do kind of think it might be the natural way to account for the abused, orphaned and etc.  certainly less likely to help an outside kid if you have your own.

anyone else notice some homosexuals want to claim its a natural way to avoid over population... but when they go and engineer to have their own babies too... ??  whats this all about?

cheers for the Titus family and Bete as they are the only GP adoption I know of - quite inspiring

[newkris]

people are strange.  that's what it all comes down to mary. 

except us, of course. 

i recently had quite the "conversation" with someone about the value of life and who has the authority to take it.

their argument centered around the inability of the mother to "have" a child - not give birth, but to raise.   they tried to make a point that it's wrong for people with drug/life problems to give birth.  and how stupid and selfish it was for a mother incapable of raising a child to give birth. 

i don't even need to tell you what my first response was . . . i think you know.

my next response was why did they feel it was okay to belittle a woman whose choice was to have a child?  and why didn't they support her choice.

and then i asked them why they were opposed to adoption.  they had no response.

funny how pro-choice only involves one choice. 

funny, and sad. 

[nicolejoy]

So Kris, what did you say they should do re preimplantation testing??

[newkris]

here is the question and answer.  she will probably take a point off for not directly advising, but i don't know what is the best way to go.  i just remember girls in the class talking about how painful the whole procedure was and how expensive.  then there's the idea of "disposing" of the "less viable" specimens.  they didn't even call them embryos.  and, honestly, i guess our body disposes of them all the time - miscarriages and that sort of thing. 

it just feels like a doctor is trying to play God to me so i kind of avoided it.

anyway, here's what i said: 

15.   What is preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) and would you recommend this for Mary and Robert for any subsequent pregnancies they might have?  What are the advantages and disadvantages of PGD over amniocentesis? (10)

Preimplantation genetic diagnosis involves testing embryos formed outside the womb to check the existence of mutated genes such as the sickle cell allele.  The advantage is that parents can be relatively certain that their child will not have the diseased allele.  The disadvantages are that the process is very expensive and even a "healthy" embryo implanted may not be fully viable.  After all of the expense and pain of the process, the embryo may not make it full term.