{"id":1717,"date":"2023-02-22T20:29:38","date_gmt":"2023-02-23T03:29:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/?p=1717"},"modified":"2023-02-22T20:29:38","modified_gmt":"2023-02-23T03:29:38","slug":"unicorn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/?p=1717","title":{"rendered":"Unicorn"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Franny was nervous as the ultrasound tech chatted and booted up her machine. The warmed jelly spread over her lower abdomen and the transducer pressed. The screen was facing away, and the technician stopped her friendly chatter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat is it?\u201d Franny asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNothing. I\u2019ll be right back.\u201d And she left the room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A tall man entered with the technician at his elbow. \u201cWhat\u2019s wrong?\u201d Franny, now desperate, asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re just trying to get better pictures. We don\u2019t want you to worry.\u201d He murmured in a quiet soothing voice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOh, good. I was getting worried. What do you see?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was a long bit of silence as the tall man moved the transducer with more force, pressing uncomfortably on her full bladder. He looked up at Franny, then back at the screen and said,\u201d It looks like you have a case of beucephaly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s that?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He paused again. \u201cWe can see the heart beating, and the head well formed, but your baby has four legs and a tail.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt seems you have a horse, maybe a pony growing inside you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOh,\u201d said Franny. \u201cWill it live?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He frowned. \u201cWe don\u2019t often see cases like this. I recommend you talk with a high-risk pregnancy specialist.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCan I see it?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He spun the monitor screen toward her. The black and white fuzzy screen showed the image of a little, folded up pony. Franny smiled. She had always liked horses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLet me see if I can get Dr. Barford to come in. She\u2019s just down the hall.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Franny listened to the swishing of the heartbeat and studied the image. Some questions were forming as she looked and listened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The perinatologist came in and introduced herself. She too ran the transducer over Franny\u2019s belly, then wiped off the goo and sat down next to her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, she confirmed, Franny\u2019s baby was \u201cequine\u201d she said. Meaning, they couldn\u2019t tell yet if it was a horse, or pony, or donkey or mule.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWill it live?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These can be very difficult pregnancies, she said frankly, and while it may be born alive, most do not live long after birth. And, she added, the delivery process can be very hard on the mother. Sometimes there is premature labor, sometimes high blood pressure, \u201ceclampsia\u201d she said. And it the fetus survives to term the delivery will need to be by C-section.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat if I don\u2019t want to keep the pregnancy?\u201d Franny asked. \u201cWhat if I want it to be over now?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here Dr. Barford looked down. Many women might choose that, given this diagnosis, but here in Idaho, that choice is not available to you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat?\u201d Franny asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No, Dr. Barford explained. Unless you can show a criminal complaint of rape or incest, your pregnancy cannot be terminated, because at this stage it would mean that your um, baby would most surely die.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut you said it wouldn\u2019t live after birth.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, but some live for a while. But none have gone on to be full grown horses. Or donkeys. Or any full-grown equine species.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Franny frowned. \u201cRape or incest? She blushed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Barford nodded silently. You would need to show a proper police report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Franny shook her head. \u201cYou mean, I have a pony growing inside me and I have to just carry this pregnancy, even if it means I could get sick, have to have surgery to deliver it, and then it\u2019s going to die before it grows up?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Barford nodded. Those are the laws here in Idaho.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Franny heard the swish of the heartbeat from the monitor and remembered the four folded up little legs and the nubbin of the tail. \u201cHas anyone ever had a unicorn?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Barford smiled. I don\u2019t think so. But there\u2019s always a first time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Franny was nervous as the ultrasound tech chatted and booted up her machine. The warmed jelly spread over her lower abdomen and the transducer pressed. The screen was facing away, and the technician stopped her friendly chatter. \u201cWhat is it?\u201d … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1717"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1717"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1717\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1719,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1717\/revisions\/1719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}