Latest / Pregnancy Help Podcast / Supporting Parents Facing a Prenatal Diagnosis – Shelley Hauter

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Supporting Parents Facing a Prenatal Diagnosis – Shelley Hauter · Pregnancy Help Podcast

0:02
Welcome to the Pregnancy Help Podcast. I'm Christine
0:05
Grimmit. I'm here with Nafissa Kennedy, the director
0:07
of option line, which is a 247 pregnancy
0:10
helpline.
0:10
Nafissa's team of consultants stand ready to answer
0:13
those calls and chats day and night for
0:15
women seeking answers to their pregnancy questions and
0:18
to provide support and compassion to those in
0:20
need. Visit optionline.org
0:22
for more information. And I'll also drop an
0:24
email address in the notes if you're a
0:25
pregnancy pregnancy help organization interested in having OptionLine
0:28
answer your after hours phone calls.
0:31
Nafissa and I are excited to be bringing
0:33
in a special guest on this episode.
0:35
Shelley Hautter is a parent care coordinator through
0:37
the website, prenataldiagnosis.org.
0:40
And she provides perinatal grief support at Living
0:42
Alternatives Pregnancy Resource Center, where she works with
0:45
families facing a prenatal diagnosis,
0:48
supporting them, advocating for them. So we'll talk
0:51
more about what that looks like. But, of
0:53
all, I wanna welcome Shelly to the podcast.
0:56
It's great to be here, Christine. I
0:59
love, listening to your podcast as I'm able,
1:02
and I've definitely went back through and made
1:05
sure I've listened to,
1:06
other,
1:07
podcasts that you've done on this topic. So
1:10
I'm just really encouraged by the growth in
1:13
this area,
1:14
pregnancy care centers, and happy to be here
1:17
today.
1:18
Awesome. Thanks. Great. Love to hear that. So,
1:21
Nafisa, let's start with you and we'll go
1:23
from there. So if you can give us
1:25
your background,
1:26
with OptionLine and then explain how prenatal diagnosis.org
1:29
came to be. What's the story behind that?
1:33
Absolutely. Thanks, Christine.
1:35
I have been with OptionLine
1:37
for 18 years now.
1:40
Really,
1:41
fell in love with the work,
1:43
from my
1:44
interview
1:45
for my consultant position,
1:47
back in 2006.
1:49
And,
1:50
at every turn, the Lord has called me
1:52
to stay here,
1:54
in this role for for,
1:56
supporting
1:58
women in need of pregnancy help.
2:00
So I've been around quite a while at
2:02
OptionLine. And in 2021,
2:06
OptionLine was invited to, step into some working
2:09
group meetings with a few other organizations in
2:11
the pregnancy help movement.
2:14
Her plan,
2:15
Charlotte L'Ouisier Institute,
2:17
and Be Not Afraid were collaborating on a
2:19
new project to serve families facing a prenatal
2:23
diagnosis.
2:25
And those early meetings were,
2:27
so exciting and enlightening for me as someone
2:30
who's had really limited experience serving families,
2:34
facing a prenatal diagnosis.
2:36
You know, at OptionLine, our our calls are,
2:40
a little more brief. We're seed planters and
2:42
so we don't get to see the whole
2:44
story. But I had some experience,
2:47
talking with moms who were considering abortion,
2:50
due to a prenatal diagnosis.
2:52
So I was really excited to,
2:55
just be part of those early meetings with
2:56
the working group.
2:58
And over the course of a few years,
3:00
we have worked to establish an initiative to
3:03
serve these families,
3:05
who are often very limited in their resources.
3:08
So that starts with our website, prenatal diagnosis.org,
3:11
which contains lots of really helpful content for
3:14
families, facing a diagnosis.
3:17
It also includes,
3:19
parent stories,
3:21
and other resources that might be helpful to
3:23
a family facing a diagnosis.
3:26
But one of the key, aspects of this
3:28
initiative
3:30
is the connection to a parent care coordinator.
3:33
Option line is,
3:35
listed on prenatal diagnosis.org.
3:38
Folks can call us, chat, text, or email,
3:41
and reach one of our consultants at the
3:43
option line.
3:45
And then from there,
3:47
we get them connected with a parent care
3:50
coordinator
3:51
serving their community.
3:52
Parent care coordinators provide a free service of
3:55
practical guidance, information, and referrals so that parents
3:58
understand what's normal,
4:00
possible, and what might be helpful as they
4:02
carry to term. And that support is provided
4:05
for an entire year
4:07
following the birth. So prenatal diagnosis.org
4:10
was launched,
4:12
just,
4:13
back in 2023.
4:15
And we've been so privileged
4:17
to work with,
4:19
the other members of the working group, and
4:21
now several parent care coordinators. So, Shelley, I'm
4:25
really excited to to understand more about how
4:28
your,
4:29
experience has been serving these families.
4:32
Would you maybe take us through your background
4:34
and what led you to this ministry?
4:37
Yeah. I'd be happy to.
4:39
I have been,
4:41
involved
4:42
at, pregnancy care centers, a couple of them
4:47
since
4:48
26,
4:49
2013,
4:50
actually. 2013,
4:53
always wanted to be able to volunteer.
4:56
My background is I'm a nurse, but I
4:58
stayed home with my kids for many years.
5:00
And then
5:01
when the last one got into kindergarten, it
5:04
was just a,
5:06
a goal of mine to be able to
5:08
volunteer at a pregnancy resource center,
5:10
which is what I started to do.
5:12
And happy to volunteer and volunteer as a
5:15
nurse and see clients in that way.
5:19
And then,
5:20
not long in that journey,
5:22
I was asked to become director of our
5:25
local center. So I was
5:27
director for
5:29
almost 5 years, I think.
5:33
And as I just needed my center was
5:35
growing, and it needed a little
5:37
bit more time and resources.
5:40
I was part time at that time and
5:42
still am, but I my center needed more
5:46
hours, more hours from someone who could give
5:48
a little bit more. So I stepped down
5:50
as director,
5:52
but I
5:54
my heart wanted to still really be involved.
5:56
And I I knew I could as a
5:57
volunteer in some capacity,
6:00
but at that same time,
6:02
this
6:03
my organization had an opening, and we were,
6:06
really working to expand. And it was happening
6:08
at that same time that things were changing
6:10
for
6:12
heartbeat
6:13
and, your launching of the website
6:16
and wanting to have parent care coordinators
6:20
that you could refer clients to,
6:23
women to. So it was all happening hand
6:25
in hand with that. So I stepped over
6:27
from director of my center
6:32
to, be trained as a parent care coordinator.
6:34
So that's,
6:36
I did my training in 2023.
6:40
I
6:41
and I said started the position
6:43
about 6 months before that. So the end
6:45
of 2022
6:46
as things were changing also for heartbeat. And,
6:51
so I went through training through be not
6:52
afraid,
6:53
to become a parent care coordinator.
6:55
And so that's what I've been able to
6:57
do the last, year and a half.
7:00
That's amazing, Shelley. I'm really struck by the
7:03
fact that you're able to, serve as director
7:06
in a part time capacity. That just, I
7:08
think, speaks to your abilities.
7:11
And, I'm just I I'm so, grateful for
7:14
all that you have been able to accomplish
7:17
in your role in the pregnancy help community.
7:20
So that shift to parent care coordinator,
7:24
must have been a very interesting one for
7:26
you.
7:27
Do you wanna tell us a little bit
7:28
about your ministry as a parent care coordinator?
7:31
Maybe tell us a little bit more about
7:32
Willow's story?
7:33
Yeah.
7:35
My center,
7:36
is Living Alternatives Pregnancy Resource Center, and we
7:39
have
7:41
about 12 centers,
7:43
some
7:45
satellite centers throughout Illinois and a couple in
7:48
Indiana.
7:49
And,
7:50
I had a director and an assistant director
7:53
at my center when I was director, and
7:55
we actually flip flop roles in the most
7:58
beautiful way because,
8:01
I became a parent care coordinator and then
8:04
my former assistant director became the director of
8:08
our program.
8:09
So we flip flop roles, and I knew
8:11
it would be perfect because
8:13
Paula is
8:15
excellent at what she does at directing our
8:17
Willow's Story program.
8:18
And,
8:19
she also went through the training. She's a
8:21
parent care coordinator herself.
8:23
So we both,
8:25
are working with this with our ministry. And
8:28
what we were finding at Living Alternatives,
8:31
We've,
8:33
39
8:33
going on 40 years of ministry
8:37
and
8:38
through our centers.
8:40
And we've had for many, many years,
8:43
program to help women who've had a loss
8:47
or have been given a diagnosis. So that
8:49
probably
8:50
formally started in 2008
8:52
as
8:54
we saw the need to have something more
8:56
structured,
8:57
that we could work with women. But,
9:01
what I kind of found,
9:03
you know, we had the program and it
9:05
was there and available and it was on
9:06
our website. So,
9:09
maybe women would hear about it. But where
9:12
what we were really reaching was women who
9:14
were within our center already.
9:17
You know, maybe they've been a
9:19
a a client, a medical client and
9:22
a medical patient and having had an ultrasound,
9:25
maybe that loss would be identified in an
9:28
ultrasound.
9:30
You know, you're walking with these women who've
9:32
had an early pregnancy loss, a miscarriage,
9:35
or or it
9:37
appears that she may be miscarrying.
9:39
Or she's a client of our,
9:42
we call it our hope program, but, you
9:44
know, with their parenting pregnancy and parenting classes
9:47
that they go through,
9:49
like all, you know, pregnancy centers have those.
9:52
So maybe she's already a client in that
9:54
way and has a a mentor she's working
9:57
with and then has a loss or is
9:59
given a diagnosis during that. So we we
10:03
had programming already to be up and able
10:06
to meet her needs.
10:08
But I think the interesting thing about this
10:10
and what what I really appreciate about Heartbeat
10:13
International doing is
10:15
creating this website because I'm not sure if
10:18
you were pregnant and not connected
10:35
and so I feel like
10:38
parents may fall on this, website, the prenatal
10:42
diagnosis.org,
10:44
website
10:45
more easily and be able to be resourced
10:48
through that.
10:49
Yeah. Absolutely.
10:51
And that's one of the reasons that prenatal
10:53
diagnosis.org
10:55
was,
10:56
established because a lot a lot of these,
11:00
families are different from your average
11:02
pregnancy help center client
11:04
in that many of these were planned pregnancies,
11:07
and they are often
11:09
quite far along when they,
11:11
receive a diagnosis,
11:13
or a recommendation
11:15
to abort,
11:16
due to
11:18
assumed diagnosis.
11:19
So,
11:20
it is kind of a different client and
11:22
so a different audience. But I think, Shelley,
11:24
you actually highlighted a really great point in
11:26
that our pregnancy health organizations,
11:30
you know, often encounter situations where they might
11:33
need to utilize resources like prenataldiagnosis.org
11:37
or to be able to connect families with
11:39
a parent care coordinator in some way. And
11:41
so kudos to you and your organization for
11:44
seeing that need and being ready to meet
11:46
it. And thank God that he, gave you
11:48
the wisdom and resources to make that happen.
11:53
Would you be able to provide us with
11:55
a couple of examples of stories of families
11:58
that you've been able to serve personally as
12:00
a parent care coordinator. I think that would
12:02
be so interesting.
12:03
Yeah.
12:05
I I think when I
12:08
a story that will always stick out to
12:10
me. As I first took on, the role
12:13
of parent care coordinator,
12:15
and
12:18
I was just at the kind of beginning
12:20
of my training. But we we have resources
12:23
internally, and there there are lots of great
12:25
resources out there. But,
12:27
so I just equipped myself the best that
12:30
I could, and I it was sort of
12:32
happening simultaneously
12:33
as I was taking the be not afraid
12:35
parent care coordinator training.
12:38
But we had a client within our pregnancy
12:40
center who was pregnant with twins.
12:43
And she had started with us from the
12:45
very first ultrasound
12:46
and pregnancy test and coming to our,
12:50
pregnancy and parenting classes and just
12:53
working our way through it as a typical
12:55
client and,
12:57
but pregnant with twins. And
13:00
she had her last appointment on Thursday
13:03
and then,
13:06
went home
13:07
to go into preterm labor and delivered her
13:10
twins,
13:11
who
13:13
subsequently died very soon after. And she was
13:16
about 21 weeks pregnant.
13:20
And
13:21
just being able to really meet her in
13:24
that moment, I mean, it was as
13:27
happens at our pregnancy centers. You know, you
13:29
might have a a no show or a
13:31
call or the client calls and says this
13:33
is what's happened to me.
13:35
So we were able to bring in that
13:37
mom and just,
13:38
love on her and just kind of continue
13:41
with this relationship that we already had with
13:44
her
13:44
and just
13:46
resourcing her a lot of grief resources and
13:49
talking with her and,
13:52
making sure that she had counseling available to
13:55
her if that's something she wanted to pursue.
13:58
And, really, we just met with her,
14:01
week to week or every couple weeks, however
14:03
she was comfortable. And we did that for
14:05
several months with her.
14:08
Sometimes you don't you don't get,
14:10
as long of a lasting relationship with a
14:12
client.
14:13
If they've had an early pregnancy loss and
14:15
miscarriage,
14:16
we find that sometimes they, you know, 2
14:19
or 3 sessions into meeting with
14:22
a mentor within your center if that's a
14:24
resource that you have
14:26
or,
14:28
or if you've connected them with a parent
14:30
care coordinator. Sometimes a few sessions is just
14:33
enough for them to
14:34
really process and begin,
14:38
on their grief journey in the best way
14:41
possible and in a healthy way. You're kinda
14:44
making sure there's a lot of postpartum
14:48
risk of depression and significant clinical depression with
14:52
a loss. So just making sure she's resourced
14:54
and and aware that that's something that
14:58
providers are whoever her providers are, that she's
15:01
following up with them, that kind of thing.
15:03
But we were able to walk with that
15:04
mom
15:06
and joyfully until she
15:09
became pregnant again. And,
15:12
and her and her husband delivered a healthy
15:15
baby,
15:16
full term baby after that. So and she
15:20
actually still is a client, still comes in.
15:22
So we get to see her little,
15:25
sweet rainbow baby as they call them. And,
15:29
so that would be a a client with
15:31
Better Center, but I would love to tell
15:33
you about,
15:34
other clients that we've been connected to through
15:38
the,
15:40
option line as a parent care coordinator and
15:43
what that looks like.
15:45
Yeah. Absolutely. And how beautiful,
15:48
that
15:49
God blessed that family with a a rainbow.
15:52
And,
15:53
how beautiful also that your center
15:57
has walked with them
15:59
through every step of the way. I think
16:00
a lot of times there's a perception that,
16:03
you know,
16:04
pregnancy
16:05
centers are,
16:07
just there for diapers and baby wipes and,
16:10
you know, things like that, or maybe a
16:12
one time visit for a pregnancy test. But
16:14
you really,
16:15
are in it for the long haul with
16:18
your clients. And I just think that's such
16:19
a beautiful thing.
16:21
So tell us about a family that you've
16:23
served,
16:24
through your parent care coordinator role.
16:27
Yeah.
16:29
Having,
16:32
sort of expanded
16:33
what was already within our center, so
16:37
just growing this, parent care coordinator role and
16:41
understanding that,
16:43
there would be families
16:44
and
16:46
many of them are finding a prenatal diagnosis
16:49
dot org or perhaps they're being be not
16:52
afraid or however we might receive referrals. But
16:55
if that's something that centers don't feel equipped
16:58
to handle or they don't have someone trained
17:01
in that way within their center,
17:03
they can go
17:05
through, the option line,
17:07
prenatal diagnosis.org
17:08
and be connected with 1. And we kind
17:11
of find that
17:13
it's not
17:14
as important to be local to them. So
17:17
many of the clients that I've served are
17:19
not local to me at all. They're from,
17:23
well, I'm in the Midwest, and they're from
17:26
Florida,
17:27
California, Oregon. I mean, they're kind of all
17:30
over the state because of the limitation of
17:33
we don't have that many trained parent care
17:36
coordinators,
17:37
but just being able to have that one
17:39
on one support with them. So,
17:42
I and it truly is a service of
17:46
these families are some of the most,
17:49
abortion vulnerable
17:51
families that we serve.
17:54
There's nothing
17:55
I I feel like nothing more abortion vulnerable
17:58
almost than when your physician refers you for
18:01
an abortion.
18:03
And some of that is wrapped up in,
18:07
you know, health of the mother or
18:11
or more so in the diagnosis that your
18:14
child's been given. And,
18:17
and sometimes I I find it's initially,
18:21
you know, I may have a parent that
18:23
is,
18:23
wants to carry to term. She's made a
18:25
decision to do that. You know?
18:27
And,
18:28
this family is going through that together. But
18:31
all along the way, they're having to make
18:33
that decision
18:34
repeatedly, like, with each
18:37
new piece of news that they, receive or
18:40
each new diagnostic test that's done is a
18:43
decision that they're making over and over again
18:45
because they
18:47
have been offered and they,
18:50
and I know this is state dependent now,
18:52
but
18:54
they've been offered a termination
18:56
termination for medical reasons, which,
18:59
you know, is a a choice to abort
19:01
their child at at this. And I've had
19:03
clients,
19:05
who've been
19:06
kind of been given the attitude of
19:09
cut your losses.
19:11
You know, they have been able to get
19:13
pregnant. You can go on to have another
19:15
pregnancy.
19:17
Just really traumatizing
19:20
news and conversations that they've had with
19:23
some providers
19:25
along the way,
19:26
even,
19:27
you know, well meaning friends and family that
19:30
don't wanna see,
19:33
a family suffer in this way. They see
19:35
it as suffering. Sometimes it's speaking of suffering,
19:38
sometimes it's wrapped into the,
19:40
idea that the baby would be suffering.
19:43
You don't want the baby to suffer.
19:45
Like, this is the
19:47
the most loving choice and that we don't
19:50
see evidence of baby suffering in utero. It's
19:53
the safest place. It's the
19:56
it's where they're meant to be,
19:58
you know, until
20:00
something says otherwise, until, you know,
20:04
there might be a need to deliver earlier,
20:06
that kind of thing.
20:07
But, anyway, some of the families that I
20:10
received,
20:12
I remember one mom,
20:14
and she,
20:16
and many of these women have had a
20:17
prior loss. So that is,
20:20
there's always a lot to unpack,
20:23
with the families that we serve. Sometimes they've
20:26
had prior loss, so they're coming into this
20:28
pregnancy, and then they receive this news of
20:30
a diagnosis
20:31
or a potential diagnosis. A screening's been done.
20:36
Shelly, I'm sorry. Let me pause for a
20:38
second because you mentioned an important distinction.
20:42
There are screening tests and then there are
20:44
diagnostic tests. Do you wanna share a little
20:47
bit about what the difference is and why
20:49
that matters?
20:51
Sure. For sure.
20:55
Many women are offered screening or it's just
20:58
almost wrapped into this is the normal standard
21:01
of care for, you know, early in your
21:03
pregnancy,
21:05
8 to 10 weeks.
21:07
Usually,
21:08
you're having blood draws, you're having screening, so
21:11
markers,
21:14
the
21:15
triple markers, the quad markers, things that are
21:17
just screening tests that they only will reveal
21:21
a potential risk of you having a child
21:24
with
21:26
such and such diagnosis. So they're screening for,
21:30
different
21:31
genetic risk and markers, that kind of thing,
21:34
But they are not diagnostic. They are not
21:36
certain. And,
21:39
from there,
21:41
a woman would be offered
21:44
more diagnostic tests that come with more certainty.
21:47
Even diagnostic tests can have
21:50
errors and mistakes and things that can happen
21:52
with that.
21:54
So, so I I know a lot of
21:56
women
21:57
may have this knee jerk response.
22:00
I have had the screening test that shows
22:02
that I have a a risk for this
22:04
or that, and they may
22:06
be leaning towards or considering their their option
22:09
of terminating that pregnancy, of having an abortion.
22:12
And
22:13
there's no certainty with that. Your baby may
22:16
be
22:17
100%
22:18
healthy. And to make a decision to,
22:21
you know, to terminate at that point in
22:23
the pregnancy would just
22:25
what a loss to
22:27
to make that decision without all the information.
22:30
So
22:31
Yeah. Absolutely.
22:33
Yeah. Screenings is something that,
22:36
and most people,
22:38
they go into it with the idea that,
22:40
oh, we're gonna find out what we're having.
22:42
So, you know, it's a gender reveal
22:45
and information,
22:45
but,
22:47
it's the same thing. I I get this
22:49
feeling when we have women come in,
22:52
that are coming for an ultrasound and, you
22:55
know, they're
22:56
maybe farther along in their pregnancy or something
22:58
like that. At that very moment, we may
23:01
find out something about that baby that is
23:03
not what that family was expecting. We see
23:05
something we didn't expect to see on ultrasound
23:08
and
23:09
or we see a fetal demise. You know?
23:11
Maybe you're doing a scan on a,
23:14
there is no heartbeat, and you're having to
23:16
share that news.
23:18
Anyway, those are there's some more diagnostic things
23:21
that give more certainty, but so much of,
23:24
I think early pregnancy decisions when they're given
23:28
an option or
23:30
considering an option to terminate are based on
23:32
just screenings. They're just
23:35
completely uncertain.
23:37
Yeah. And so then they've basically, you know,
23:39
they've gone in, you said, to see what
23:41
they're having and then they've had
23:43
the wind knocked out of them
23:46
through,
23:46
the trauma of a, you know, potential diagnosis
23:49
or what they're
23:50
thinking is a diagnosis.
23:52
But they might not even have all the
23:53
facts yet to make that
23:56
decision. So then they come to you,
23:58
Shelley.
23:59
So
24:00
I interrupted you when you were about to
24:01
share about a family you serve. So I'll
24:03
let let you get back to that story.
24:07
And I was just sharing that.
24:09
Initially, she just shared with us there's no
24:12
good news. And she she was beyond she
24:15
probably had the tip and I I know
24:17
she did have the typical
24:19
screening, and, actually, her screenings were negative. There
24:22
was nothing that came up in the screening.
24:24
But in some of the initial ultrasounds, they
24:26
were starting to see some things. And,
24:30
many,
24:31
many things,
24:32
with
24:33
body systems,
24:35
cardiac and brain, and all of these were
24:38
were coming out in in the
24:41
initial anatomy scans that they were doing, and,
24:44
you know, some of the early ultrasounds were
24:46
having findings. So it's kinda like each step
24:49
of the way, they're just, like, receiving
24:52
bad news and
24:54
concerning news and just,
24:59
it's so trauma inducing all the news that
25:01
they're receiving along the way. And,
25:05
we often say the
25:07
the biggest trauma is often in the diagnosis.
25:13
Like you said, the wind knocked out of
25:14
them.
25:15
There's grief in that. The the loss of
25:18
the pregnancy that they thought they'd have, the
25:20
loss
25:21
of the
25:23
child that they thought they had. Maybe they,
25:27
have been given a diagnosis of a
25:30
a congenital
25:31
abnormality
25:32
that,
25:33
you can kind of know the course of
25:35
what that looks like in these children.
25:37
And so they that there's grief in that
25:40
loss, and the diagnosis itself can be very
25:42
traumatic.
25:44
We often say even more so traumatic than,
25:48
carrying to term, giving birth, and even if
25:50
there's a a loss of that child,
25:54
if they've been given this,
25:57
resource that we can offer them, the,
26:01
parent centered trauma informed
26:03
case management support. That's what we say we
26:05
give them throughout the rest of their pregnancy
26:08
and just being able to
26:11
connect with them in that way, help them,
26:13
prepare,
26:15
for what's ahead, help them build memories around
26:19
their pregnancy.
26:20
You know, baby is still alive
26:22
and growing and in their uterus, and can
26:25
their families make memories around this,
26:28
and just preparing for their birth. And and
26:31
many times preparing for the life of this
26:33
child that
26:35
not all babies given a prenatal diagnosis,
26:39
even ones that sound severe,
26:42
are going to die. Some of them are
26:43
going to live with that
26:47
illness, congenital
26:50
anomaly, whatever it might be. Some of them
26:52
live with that. So we need to help
26:54
them prepare to what if this child chose
26:56
himself to be
26:58
robust and stronger
27:00
and not as frail as the picture that
27:03
maybe initially was painted. So I just think
27:06
about the client that she said no good
27:08
news. And really
27:10
almost all along her pregnancy, it was it
27:12
was
27:14
now they're finding this. Now they're finding this,
27:16
and now this is that. Until we got
27:19
towards the end of the pregnancy and they
27:20
kinda do some follow-up work with,
27:25
fetal
27:28
sonography and those kind of things and get
27:30
a better picture of their brain and their
27:32
heart. And one of our families just all
27:35
at the towards the end, it started well.
27:37
Now we don't see
27:40
quite the the brain issue that we were
27:42
seeing. Or now the hole in her heart
27:44
has changed, and now we're seeing this. And
27:46
it was like things were coming around at
27:49
the end, and it was like,
27:52
this was a baby that
27:54
your physician had referred you
27:56
for an abortion
27:58
at
27:58
18 weeks, you know, and
28:01
in a state that doesn't offer abortion and
28:04
and had mentioned, you know, you could travel
28:06
to another state. And here, this baby is
28:09
starting to give us a picture that she's
28:12
she's going to live, and she may do
28:15
far better than they expected.
28:17
And now that little baby is 4 months
28:19
old, and she is gorgeous
28:22
and beautiful and doing
28:24
unbelievably well. And
28:27
that's just the biggest blessing to get to
28:29
walk with these families
28:30
through those stories.
28:32
That is so incredible. Thank you for sharing
28:35
that, Shelley. And thank you for being with
28:36
us today.
28:37
You know, I'm sure for a lot of
28:39
these families,
28:40
that are served by our parent care coordinators,
28:43
it does seem like there's no good news.
28:46
But, in fact, when they connect with you,
28:48
they they actually have a little bit of
28:52
great news, and that's that they don't have
28:53
to walk the journey alone.
28:55
Thank you, Shelley, for all that you do.
28:58
And thank you for being willing to come
29:00
on and share with our listeners about your
29:02
work as a parent care coordinator.
29:05
Prenataldiagnosis.org,
29:07
and our option line team are available 247
29:10
for families facing a prenatal diagnosis. We can
29:13
get them connected with a parent care coordinator
29:16
who can provide the same level of care,
29:19
to them right where they are.
29:21
It's really beneficial for our pregnancy help centers
29:25
and other pregnancy help organizations to be ready
29:27
to use this service as well. So,
29:30
if this podcast has,
29:32
struck a nerve, maybe
29:34
pursuing some training to become a little more
29:37
involved. But at the very least, please know
29:39
that prenatal diagnosis.org
29:41
is available as a resource, and you can
29:43
use it anytime.
29:46
Alright. Well, Shelley and Nafissa, thanks so much
29:48
for being here. It's always good to highlight
29:50
prenatal diagnosis.org
29:52
and and now specifically
29:54
the work of the, parent care coordinator. It's
29:57
such an essential service that we can offer
29:59
to clients
30:00
through pregnancy centers, referring them to that website
30:03
and that resource.
30:05
And also for any individuals who are listening,
30:06
if you know of somebody who is, facing
30:09
a prenatal diagnosis
30:10
and is just looking for that support, it's,
30:13
so good to know that this is out
30:14
there. So I'll, add some links to the
30:17
notes, some additional information for those who are
30:19
are seeking
30:20
more. And, we hope to have more coming
30:22
soon on this topic. So with that, subscribe
30:25
to the Pregnancy Health Podcast so that you
30:27
don't miss an episode. And thanks for listening
30:29
to this episode of the Pregnancy Help Podcast.