Influencer couple Jesse and Ashley Ridgway reveal they recently decided to end her pregnancy.
“This week, my wife and I made the very difficult decision to terminate the pregnancy due to Trisomy 21,” Jesse, 33, wrote via his Instagram Stories on Wednesday, June 3. “The choice was not made lightly. We really appreciate all of the personal stories that you guys shared with us, especially the unconditional support we receive from fans with no matter what we decided.”
Jesse and Ashley, 31, announced in March that they were expecting their first baby, later discovering that the fetus had Down syndrome.
“We were so excited to celebrate the gender reveal in a Psycho video with you guys, but in true ‘art imitates life’-fashion … there had to be a dark twist,” Jesse wrote via Instagram in April. “The same genetic testing that told us our baby would be a boy revealed to us that he had a 95 percent chance to be born with Down syndrome.”
According to Jesse, the couple was “rocked by the results.”
“Still processing to this day, but we couldn’t be more grateful for all the support we’ve received over this past week,” he explained at the time. “Down syndrome carries a very HIGH risk of miscarriage and usually comes with heart defects, structural abnormalities, developmental issues, shorter lifespan, etc. As excited as we are to become parents, this was a gut-punch.”
After a separate amniocentesis test confirmed the baby had Down syndrome, Jesse and Ashley opted to terminate the pregnancy.
“I know some of you may be very disappointed to hear this news. We are devastated,” Jesse wrote on Wednesday. “This has been extremely traumatic for both of us, especially Ashley.”
Jesse explained that Ashley “underwent the procedure” earlier this week and is now recuperating.
TikTok couple Matt and Abby Howard will not be disclosing the details of their baby’s health prior to their pregnancy loss. “I think we’re gonna keep all of her specific medical stuff private, like we would our other children,” Abby, 26, said during the Wednesday, October 22, episode of their “Unplanned” podcast. Matt, 27, agreed, […]
“Thankfully, everything went smoothly, but emotionally we are drained,” he said. “Trisomy 21, also known as Down syndrome, is caused by an extra chromosome. It is caused by an error in cell division, like a glitch. The odds of a baby having it is 1 in 100.”
He continued, “When I first confronted this news, I was shocked but optimistic. If they’re a little slow intellectually, then we’ll make it work. I signed on to be a parent, come what may. I just didn’t fully understand what Down syndrome entailed.”
Jesse soon learned about various complications often associated with Down syndrome, including heart defects, hearing loss and vision impairment.
“I didn’t realize just how rough it is for the child, let alone the family,” the YouTuber wrote in his statement. “We spoke with doctors, friends, family and genetic counselors and learned that up to 90 percent of women terminate their pregnancy after learning the baby has Trisomy 21. … You never think you’d be in this type of situation until it happens to you and then things change.”
Jesse continued, “As for us, we made a difficult decision that we believe in the long-run will be beneficial for our family. Thankfully, we had a choice. It will take a little time to move on, but we are excited to try again in the future and hopefully have a better outcome.”
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‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.usmagazine.com ’
