The healthy baby with “zilch” chance of survival
This great story was just sent to me by reader Monica, originally reported Feb. 4 by Florida’s KLTV
Jennifer and Taylor White had been married for several years when they decided to add children to their family. A first pregnancy ended in a miscarriage. Then last March, Jennifer became pregnant again.
Just as the critical first six weeks approached a blood sample tested positive for spinal bifida. They headed straight to Dallas to a specialist who said that test was negative…but
“He told us, there was no amniotic fluid,” says Taylor White. “And this was our first ultra sound of the pregnancy, this was our first time to even see…and there was no amniotic fluid, no kidneys of course because there was no amniotic fluid….
“He told us then,” says Jennifer White, “if I were you I would go home and pray, because it really doesn’t look good.”
The Whites had to another two weeks for final confirmation. 14 days later the news wasn’t any better.
“I’m almost certain your baby has no chance of living,” Taylor remembering what the specialist said. “In fact he used the word zilch, zilch chance. There is no amniotic fluid, there is not a genetic reason to explain this, it just happens. You can either terminate the pregnancy now or you can go through the pregnancy…and the baby will probably be still born or be born alive and die a couple of hours after being born”….”We decided,” said Jennifer, “that we thought that was the best option, was to go ahead and induce early. I mean I would have a normal delivery you know and what understood the outcome would be the same, the baby was not going to make it either way. For me I could not imagine carry this baby for to full term.”
That early delivery would have happened at Tyler’s Trinity Mother Frances Hospital. But because it was so early in the pregnancy, the hospital’s ethics committee said no….
“By that point,” remembers Taylor, “our prayer was more, initially, or first reaction was to pray to God to help us make it through it. To comfort us. Shortly after that our mind changed and we said God we know you have the power to change this, and we’re putting this in Your hands.”
Regular sonograms for the next six months still showed no amniotic fluid. An inducement was scheduled six weeks before the due date. One last sonogram indicated something had changed. The Whites headed straight to their specialist in Dallas.
“His face just dropped,” remembers Taylor, “just with amazement said I can’t explain it. There is no other explanation than God just performed a miracle. There is a normal amount of amniotic fluid at this point he saw possibly one kidney. He said this is a perfectly healthy baby. There should be..they should have deformities, they should have not developed lungs and none of that was an issue at this point. When God performs a miracle he doesn’t do it half way”….
Almost nine months after their ordeal began, little Amelia Faith White was born. A blessing for her parents. And a testimony they say to the power of prayer….
See KLTV’s video of baby, parents, and entire amazing story here.
Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
Keeping Faith
This story is instructive in two ways. It shows that God can do all things, despite the pronouncements of the medical community — if He so wishes. And secondly, it shows the necessity of good ethicists at hospitals, which will allow good to prosper an…
Wow! Marvelous! I’ve linked back to you from my blog.
Interesting… I did a quick search on line about this and nothing came up except from this exact article and a couple of pro-life boards.
This reminded me of this:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12082681/
Danielle –
Please tell me that you got more out of this story than the power of prayer. The article you referenced leads me to believe so.
Did you totally miss the fact that the Doctors were wrong?
oh – and I also get the impression that you don’t believe the artcle considering your comment about not finding it anywhere else.
I have left a message for my sister. A classmate of hers had a specialist yell at her because she chose to continue with her pregnancy when her water broke at 4 months. They said the baby would be in pain, and if he lived he would be horribly handicapped yadda yadda. The Doctors were wrong. The baby is fine. I am going to see if she would be willing to come on here and post her story.
Jill – Maybe we can have a section on here devoted to stories like this. That way everyone will know that Doctors are not always perfect and that they make mistakes.
Oh, I know that doctors make mistakes. They’re only human after all and I’m very glad that everything worked out for the best.
I was on my way to class when I checked the blog and made comments about what stood out to me.
This is a wonderful story! I have to say that I dont understand the criticizing of doctors in previous posts. Doctors are professionals who are paid to give the best opinions possible based on training and experience. They are not paid to be psychic. How can a doctor or any other individual possibly know the outcome of a situation such as the one described here? In cases like this, one option is for families who turn to God and lean on that faith to make their decisions. For people who do not believe in God, they choose other ways of reaching what is hopefully the best decision for them.
Samantha –
You are right, Doctors are not pschic and that is my point. The Dr. said “zilch”. He doesn’t know that as a fact. But he still said it based on his personal experiences, not his professional.
I had a neonatel (?) specialist tell me that my son was not going to be able to walk or talk until after the age of 4. She told me that he would have serious learning problems. She said this as a fact. It was not fact. It was her personal predjudices talking.
He was walking before the age of 1 with the help of physical therapy. He has an autistic spectrum disorder but it is manageable. He is going to be able to live a normal life. This is not what she told me. (FYI – Abortion was never mentioned do to the fact that no difficulites developed until 30 weeks gestation)
If the lady that my sister knows contacts me, That will make 3 stories where the Dr’s were wrong. How many times are Dr’s wrong but we don’t know it because the Dr’s encourage abortion. Amelia Faith would not be here today if the parents followed Dr’s advice and we would never have known that she would have been fine. Medical science is so advanced now that what would be a horrible problem last year would be fixable this year.
Here’s another one:
http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,,21352567-5006003,00.html
Too bad the baby had to die because the Dr’s were wrong.
I think the undeveloped and very important theme of this story is that when the Catholic hospital does what it is supposed to do, good things happen. We need to be supportive of Catholic institutions (and any institutions that upholds a respect life policy toward the unborn) who uphold their ethics . . . because we can certainly point to many instances when they do not.
Another clear point is this: this family could have pursued a termination elsewhere. They didn’t. This suggests to me that it was not really a termination they wanted, but a way out of the grief and pain. Someone who could not even begin to imagine herself carrying a baby who would die, became someone who did carry a baby who was expected to die. Had she been able to terminate, she would not have understood what she was truly capable of doing – and quite obviously, she would not only have missed out on the several months of bonding with her child (the only time she thought she would have), but also she would have ended the life of a child who was not going to die, afterall.
It shows me that in our crises, we have a very narrow range of vision and sometimes need a little help to really discover what the best course of action is. When abortion is made available on demand, it’s not surprising that so many choose it. When they have to make an effort to pursue an abortion, it gives them time and and opportunity for reflection, to consider if it is really what they want. In some cases, it really isn’t. But in all cases, when we offer abortion at the first sign of trouble, it’s as irresponsible and unethical as handing someone in a crisis a loaded gun.
Monica –
Well said. I really like your ideas in the last paragragh. I’ve always liked the idea of women waiting the 18 or 24 hours required in some states but I could never form into words why. Thanks!
“The Careggi hospital yesterday claimed its doctors had advised the mother to seek further diagnostic tests, but she opted for an abortion after consulting a private clinic. The Tuscan health board is inquiring into the scandal.”
Valerie this is taken from the article to which you linked. The doctors who initially evaluated that patient told the mother their findings were not definite. Doctors do not force women to have abortions. As I said before, they provide the best diagnosis they can, and the mother makes the choice of whether to continue her pregnancy. I dont understand why you continue to blame the people who are only doing their jobs.
Samantha – Please stop reading only the words you want. “but she opted for an abortion after consulting a private clinic.”
Do you actually believe that this private clinic doesn’t have Dr’s in it? Did I blame only the Dr’s who did the abortion?
And what about everything else in my post? The babies that would not be here today because of mistakes. The baby that died because of mistakes. Why are you ignoring the subject of the posts and only nit picking sentences?