Trisomy 18 Life Expectancy | My Daughter's Birth Story

Parents who are expecting a baby with Trisomy 18 have questions and painful decisions to make:

Should the pregnancy be carried to term?

What quality of life will the baby have?

What kind of birth they will have?

How long the baby will live?

Last week we met Kristen Cook, who found out that her unborn child, Hannah, had Trisomy 18, a chromosomal abnormality that is fatal in most cases.

One of the first things Kristin and her husband Jason wondered was how long can a baby with Trisomy 18 survive? They wanted to know if Trisomy 18 was always fatal. And if life expectancy was low, how they could provide Hannah with the most comfort and care at every stage along the journey?

Whatever the outcome, their number one concern was giving Hannah the most comfortable experience possible.

The Cooks were both engineers; they had done their research. They had been preparing themselves for the worst. When Kristin was making her way into the OR for her c-section, the reality that Hannah's life might be over hit her.

At that moment it hit me that I didn't know if this was the end, because it could be the end.

In last week's episode, we followed her through the beginning of her story and now we pick back up with her at the point of delivery.

What I'd like for you to pay attention to today is how the Cook family decided to manage their time with Hannah and how they made every moment count, even their last moments with her.

Even though this sounds like a very sad story, it's also richly rewarding and I think you'll find hope through hearing their story.

Watch today's part two episode about carrying a baby with Trisomy 18 to term, and how the Cook family's life was indelibly changed for the better because of their daughter.