The anvil: a crushing conversation

In this collaboratively written piece, the authors narrate the most crushing day of their life. Their reflections reveal their different yet resonating perceptions of finding out bad news about their first child during pregnancy. The authors seek to investigate the parental experience of receiving a devastating diagnosis for a child by placing two accounts of the same event side-by-side. While illness stories abound, they often represent only one viewpoint. The authors seek to provide a study of life in the midst of a crisis, which is rarely what it seems from the outside looking in. Additionally, by using the accessible format of personal narrative, they provide a piece of research for a more diverse audience.