On March 16 — 13 months after the death of their son Liam — Georgianna Garry and her family welcomed another baby boy into their home. She and her husband, Dan, named him Daniel Liam. They call him Danny.
We told the story of Georgianna and her decision to carry to term a child doctors said would die soon after birth in our June 2008 issue (“Georgianna’s Choice”). Liam defied the odds, living six months.
So when prenatal blood work done early in this pregnancy showed there might be a problem, neonatologists wanted Georgianna to undergo an amniocentesis. She had acquiesced with Liam, but decided against it with Danny because her doctors were able to assure her that the baby did not have trisomy 18, the disease that took Liam’s life.
“My whole thing was, I was nervous about fatality,” Georgianna says. “We were in there saying, ‘Tell me if my child is fatal or not.’ I can live with everything else.”
Danny has Down syndrome. He also has small holes in his heart that are expected to close without surgery and the possibility of slight hearing loss in one ear. But Georgianna has taken to heart the words of the cardiologist who is treating Danny.
“He told me, ‘Baby Danny is not going to be like Baby Liam. Baby Danny will thrive and live a functioning life, and it’s all environmental. It’s what you give him,’ ” Georgianna recalls. “My baby is not a diagnosis. He’s a perfect little baby to me.”
We told the story of Georgianna and her decision to carry to term a child doctors said would die soon after birth in our June 2008 issue (“Georgianna’s Choice”). Liam defied the odds, living six months.
So when prenatal blood work done early in this pregnancy showed there might be a problem, neonatologists wanted Georgianna to undergo an amniocentesis. She had acquiesced with Liam, but decided against it with Danny because her doctors were able to assure her that the baby did not have trisomy 18, the disease that took Liam’s life.
“My whole thing was, I was nervous about fatality,” Georgianna says. “We were in there saying, ‘Tell me if my child is fatal or not.’ I can live with everything else.”
Danny has Down syndrome. He also has small holes in his heart that are expected to close without surgery and the possibility of slight hearing loss in one ear. But Georgianna has taken to heart the words of the cardiologist who is treating Danny.
“He told me, ‘Baby Danny is not going to be like Baby Liam. Baby Danny will thrive and live a functioning life, and it’s all environmental. It’s what you give him,’ ” Georgianna recalls. “My baby is not a diagnosis. He’s a perfect little baby to me.”
