The Phone Call and a "Defining Moment"

Typically when someone has what they describe as a "defining moment" it's something inherently positive. Actually that's not true. More accurately, up until this point in my life I have been storing up these moments as positives. That all changes today.

At about 3 pm I received a call on my mobile. The voice on the other end was the doctor from our Level II and he said simply, "Is this a good time to talk?"

I've been around long enough to know that this is not how any good conversation begins.

Doc - "We've received the preliminary results of your amniocentesis and your baby is positive for Trisomy 18."

Me - "That's the more severe, isn't it?"

Doc - "Yes it is. We'd like you and your wife to come in to our office at Robert Wood. How soon can you be here?"

Me - "I have to get my wife from school and then head up there. We can be there by 4 pm."

First I called her mobile and told her she needed to leave school and meet me at my office. I told her we'd need to drive up to New Brunswick. I hadn't told her why, but she never questioned it.

She was outside my office within ten minutes. When I got in the car I had to tell her what I had just heard from the doctor. I will never forget the look on my wife's face when I told her. Nor will I forget her words that will pierce my ears forever, "why is this happening to me?"