Sometimes You Forget

22 weeks, 2 days

We went through genetic counseling at the NJ Perinatal Association at around week 16. The genetic counselor asked us about our health and that of our families. My family is fairly healthy as far as genetic defects go. Griffin's family had very little that was noteworthy as well. Despite my 'advanced age' it seemed like we have very little chance of having a baby with any genetically inherited defects.

I am one of the healthiest people I know. I have never suffered from allergies, in fact I only started getting poison ivy when I was 31. It was a shock to me to have these itchy, red bumps on my hand after spending the day weeding in our yard. This was a week before we were going to get married and my fingers swelled so much that it was a bit of a struggle to get my wedding ring on at the ceremony. (On the other hand, my brother can get poison ivy if he sees a photo of it in a gardening magazine.)

I rarely get sick anymore: mostly just the sniffles every September when I return to work, but that's about it. High schools are very germy places and teaching computer graphics means I end up touching equipment that sick, snotty kids were touching. Other than that, I tend to stay healthy all year.

I have low blood pressure, a strong heart, the only operations I have ever had were getting my wisdom teeth taken out and the four D&C's. When I fill out the questionnaire you get when you go to a new doctor, I hardly read the 'do you suffer from' categories as I check no, no, no, no all the way down the line.

So, it really came as a shock to me when I remembered one night that I am carrying around a genetic defect. We were watching a DVD of Nip/Tuck when it hit me. One of the characters was having a child with ectrodactyly, otherwise known as lobster claw syndrome. It's a disorder that affects the hands and feet whereby the digits are either missing or fused, creating a claw-like appearance. Griffin and I chatted during the show about it, nothing of consequence.

Then the topic of my cute, little toes came up. I love my feet. They are, in my opinion, some of the most attractive female feet I have ever seen. My toes are cute, not long and monkey-like. I have friends whose feet look like an extra set of hands. I swear they could toss pasta salad and cut tomatoes with them. That is just freaky!

My toes are cute and small looking because I have syndactyly, in other words, I have webbed toes. My second and third toes on both feet are webbed 2/3 the way up. The bones are not fused, just the skin. It makes for very petite looking toes. Most people don't notice them unless I point it out, including the few women who have given me pedicures.

Specifically, what I have is syndactyly type I. It is a genetically inherited disorder. The gene that carries it is a dominant, non-sex related gene. This means that Piper has a 50% chance of having it too. It can affect the feet or hands or both. It is usually the ring and middle fingers that are fused on the hand and second and third toes on the foot. So, would I care if she have two toes fused like her momma? No, of course not. I love my toes. Would I care if she had two fused fingers? Well, yes.

I guess at this point we will not know if she has it until she is born. My parents never made a big deal of it in me. In fact, if my memory serves me, I don't think my parents even knew I had it until I pointed it out to them. I wanted to know when I would get "my toes cut apart like everyone else's". I think I was real little at the time, about five or so. I distinctly remember asking my mother that. She looked at my toes and told me there was nothing wrong with them. I don't think she was really looking at them. I just assumed everyone had been born with toes attached together, since I had never seen anyone else with my kind of toes, and that at some point everyone had them cut apart. It didn't occur to me that I could be different from everyone else.

As I grew up, I learned to love my toes for their weirdness. When you are a teenager you spend a lot of time talking about what makes you freaky or different. Most people had minor things like claiming to be double-jointed or that they could lick their nose. But, when I whipped out my webbed toes, I got respect! Or something like that. I was extra-freaky, which went a long way in the crowd I ran with. Weird = good.

As an adult, I am happy to have cute little toes that look nice in sandals and hopping around bare-foot. (I can't wait to be barefoot and pregnant when the weather gets warm!) As a future parent, I am just a little worried about my cute-toe syndrome being passed on to our child especially if it means webbed fingers.

There is no point in worrying about it now, I know that. But sometimes I can't help myself and Google a little. It's just what I do. I know that for the most part, if this shows up on her hands, it can be easily fixed with an operation that entails taking a bit of skin from the groin to allow the fingers to be cut apart and separated. It can be done at 12 to 18 months with little ill effects. The main reason I would have it done, and so early, is so that she would not lose any dexterity that would inhibit her from becoming a great artist, piano player or flipper of the 'bird'.

If her toes are fused, I imagine we will not do anything. And when she asks me about her cute, webbed toes, I can tell her she has toes just like her momma and that 'freaky' runs in our family.