This is why a mother disregarded a doctor’s recommendation to end her pregnancy. Her sincere letter had a significant influence years later.
There is nothing like the bond between a mother and her child. One young mother’s love and faith for her unborn child led her to make a life-altering decision during her pregnancy without hesitation.
Although pregnancy is frequently a time of hope, every mother wants to know that her unborn child is safe. This mother received startling news during one of her regular checks that might have changed the trajectory of her journey. But she never wavered in her conviction that her child should have a chance.
Photo by Ashton Mullins on Unsplash
Doctors advised ending the pregnancy after telling her that her unborn child had Down syndrome. She decided to carry her child to term in spite of this advice. She shared her experiences as a mother of a child with Down syndrome in a poignant letter to the doctor years later.
The mother of a lovely newborn girl named Emersyn, Courtney Williams Baker, had to confront the challenging reality that many moms dread. Doctors told her to think about having an abortion after diagnosing her unborn child with Down syndrome during her prenatal appointments. Courtney and her spouse declined, resolving to accept their child despite her illness.
Courtney chose to confront the physician who had told her otherwise two years after Emersyn was born. She started her heartfelt letter from 2016 by drawing comparisons between her experience and that of a friend who also had a child with Down syndrome. “I just heard from a friend about her prenatal expert who would remark, ‘He’s perfect,’ during sonograms. That same doctor reiterated, “I told you,” after her son was born with Down syndrome. “He’s flawless,” Courtney said. “Her story broke my heart because it made me realize what I should have gone through as well.”
Courtney was still troubled by her own doctor’s lack of empathy. “I wish you had been that doctor,” she wrote, expressing her intense hurt. I was scared and nervous when I came to you, during the most trying moment of my life. You recommended that we abort our child rather than providing assistance or encouragement. You even asked whether we realized how miserable having a child with Down syndrome would be for us.
Courtney remembered how her appointments turned into a terrifying process. She wrote, “We dreaded our appointments from the first visit.” “You never told me the truth: my child was perfect, which made the most difficult time in my life almost intolerable.”
Photo by Pavol Štugel on Unsplash
Her letter changed to emphasize how Emersyn had made her life happier. “Emersyn has touched the hearts of thousands of people in addition to enriching our lives. Words cannot adequately express the joy and purpose she has given us. She has made us laugh harder, smile more broadly, and kiss us more tenderly than we could have ever dreamed. She has shown us how to appreciate genuine beauty and feel love without conditions.
Courtney conveyed a deep message of love, resiliency, and the unbreakable relationship between a mother and her child through her stirring words.
