The advice given to Marinda Brits and Norman Holleman was probably given objectively and clinically. A November scan of Ms. Brits at 21 weeks showed a baby boy who was said to be dying because of low amniotic fluids.
But the couple looked beyond the experts’ “advice” to arrange for an abortion and saw something else: a baby they would not give up on.
”We knew our baby was fighting for his life and we were going to fight with him,” Holleman told Monica Tischler of the Australian publication, the Dominion Post.
And sure enough, on March 1—the same day Jayden, their two-year-old son was born on—Liam was born healthy.
But the healthy outcome masks a series of more warnings their son would not make it, or, if he did, would be seriously injured, or would die shortly after birth.
Tischler said the day after the couple received the devastating news, they visited Auckland Hospital’s woman’s assessment unit, looking for a second opinion. “Brit says she could feel her son kicking inside her the whole time,” Tischler wrote.
Granted, they were told, babies with little fluid could be born, but “there’s a high risk of deformation and the brain, lungs and kidneys may not develop properly. ‘We were willing to take that chance though,’” Brits said.
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As a possible temporary fix at 26 weeks, Brits was given what is called an amnioinfusion where 600 milliliters of saline was injected into her womb. Another scan would tell how much—if any—of the saline she retained, indicating whether Brits had any leakage or was experiencing further complications.
The next week they learned that Brits was retaining about one-third of the fluid. That was the good news. The bad news was “Liam’s kidneys weren’t forming properly and it was likely he’d die shortly after birth,” Tischler explained.
Lo and behold on New Year’s Day, doctors’ suddenly discovered that low fluid or not, Liam’s kidneys were functioning properly “and Brits and Holleman could prepare for a healthy baby and younger brother to their four other children.”
Her son’s birth brought tears to Holleman’s eyes, Tischler wrote.
”I was looking at him thinking, ‘mate you almost weren’t going to be here’.
”I just couldn’t believe it,” he says.
”Everyone says their baby is a miracle but Liam really is ours.”
LifeNews.com Note: Dave Andrusko is the editor of National Right to Life News and an author and editor of several books on abortion topics. This post originally appeared at National Right to Life News Today.
