microchimerism
I know I've read about this theory before, but somehow I'd managed to suppress it. The basic idea is that a pregnancy -- any pregnancy -- is never really over, because cells from the fetus remain in the mother's body for the rest of her life. Comforting or creepy? You decide.
13 comments:
Hmmm...I sent the link to a friend who is a blood bank specialist...I'll let you know what she says.
The reverse thing I've heard is that miscarriages, esp. ones where the mother hasn't yet carried a baby to term, are an immune reaction - the mother's body reacting to the alien inside. I grasped onto that as a reason for the early miscarriage I had, after IVF#1.
I am going to go with comforting. Like how we adore every part of our children, even their snot.
In medieval Christianity, there are many depictions signifying that Mary clothed the Christ child in her flesh. I've always found the analogy powerful. It doesn't really translate, but I immediatly thought of the cells that this study mentions as a few threads left behind.
--Suz
I'm gonna go ahead with creepy, even though a small part of me finds it comforting. However, I do like Eva's response as well. Thank you for the thinking though.
Oh, comforting. Though the immune implications are disheartening.
Since it is a natural phenomena, I would think it comforting to know that there is always a part of him/her within...and if I read the article correctly, they have cells from you that stay with them too. I find that pretty neat as well as intimate.
Comforting.
Comforting...like they're with me somehow. How do you find these great thought provokers?
I am definately in the "comforting" camp. I will have a part of the physical presence of C. with me for a long time. That's the best I can do to be with him, given the circumstances we now find ourselves in.
Neither, Kind of just feels like a biological fact to me.
Very cool actually, and also kind of interesting given the idea that we could do prenatal diagnosis soon by checking for fetal blood cells in a maternal blood sample. I wonder how they would screen it out?
Like for me, after this many pregnancies, any results would be inconclusive and I'd be back to amnio I guess.
Really? Oddly comforting.
Comforting. Independent of my pysche, he'll always be there. Thanks, you made my day.
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