It's Not A Tumor...

A 9-year-old girl in Greece went to the hospital recently complaining of stomach pains. Her belly was swollen with some kind of growth.

The growth turned out to be her embryonic twin.

Andreas Markou, head of the hospital's pediatric department, said cases where one twin absorbs the other in the womb occurs in one of 500,000 live births. This is just one example of the many unbelievable ways a pregnancy can go awry .

All pregnant mothers carry their own set of worries about the outcome of their baby. You worry of course about the obvious things – will the delivery go smoothly and will my baby be healthy and free of birth defects. You have the musings of who they’ll look like, whose personality they’ll take on. But then there are these other stories of medical curiosities you hear about and a whole new bundle of worries are delivered upon your heart.

Make sure that you can be honest and brave enough to have discussions about your fears with your partner. Discuss how you would handle any possible swerve off the path of normalcy that might arrive. That way if, God forbid, something unusual does occur, you can feel less afraid because you have a plan and the comforting knowledge of your partner’s support.

What kinds of fears do you have about your pregnancy? Have you already made plans on how to handle any surprises?