Influencer Justene Alpert Trueblood is opening up about her decision to have an abortion after the fetus was diagnosed with a rare genetic condition.
“On December 22, my happiness, and if we are being completely honest, my light was taken from me. It was a short phone call outside my office. It was calm and frantic at the same time,” Trueblood, 36, wrote via Instagram on Monday, June 22. “I was pregnant and entering my second trimester. My husband and I were just beginning the rounds of telling our close family and friends, and sadly, our little tour came to a halt that day.”
Trueblood’s doctor informed her that her pregnancy was no longer viable after the fetus was “diagnosed with a rare genetic disease.”
“They needed to rush me to our genetic specialist to confirm the nightmare. He wasn’t going to make it to full time,” Trueblood recalled. “I heard the phrase that I never imagined hearing when we were ready to have a family: ‘We highly recommend that you terminate this pregnancy and we need to do it quickly if so.’”
She continued, “On December 29, we had to say ‘goodbye’ to our son. I was a mess, although I tried to walk into Pre-Op with grace and poise. I kept repeating in my head, ‘She is clothed in dignity and strength.’ … I’ll share this, in case you feel alone or scared, Don’t ever try to be ‘OK.’ It’s OK not to be OK. Bawling? Normal. Throwing up from the grief and trauma? Didn’t know this … Normal.”
Justene further recalled how she and her husband, Mason Trueblood, “desperately prayed for either a miracle or a miscarriage.”
“We didn’t want to have to make this decision. No mom or dad should ever have to be put in this place,” the influencer stated. “The same and guilt is unfair. Having to do this is something that is rarely spoken of and seems to not have the same kind of empathy as other situations. It’s the worst pain and many suffer silently out of fear of being judged or simply misunderstood.”
Justene explained that her son “made his way back to heaven” ahead of the new year, which she and Mason spent grieving their loss.
“My husband, Mason, was literally a husband like no other. I didn’t plan on this nor knew it was even possible, but I fell more in love with him in the minutes he was holding up alcohol wipes to my nose in Pre-Op to try to lessen my nausea as I puked into a tiny green throw-up bag,” the Finley Diaries author added of her husband of eight years. “I would say ‘I do’ to this man 100 times over.”
Justene also offered her gratitude to her “amazing” support system and late son Mads “for making [her] a mom.”
“You are the one who gave me the backbone when I was doubting if I was ready to be a mom or not,” she concluded. “I was ready for you. I was ready to bling out a jersey with your number on it, to teach you how to play rough when your dad would walk away after his safety speech, to have a tiny protector, to give so many hugs and kisses to. I was ready to be yours. Your dad and I think of you every day, and I look forward to wrapping my arms around that sweet beautiful boy with the most perfect profile.”
