From the moment they learn they are expecting, mothers pray for their pregnancy to go according to plan. They all wish their babies to be born healthy, but sometimes, things don’t turn out as expected.
When Courtney Williams Baker learned she was pregnant, she and her husband were over the moon. She went through every ultrasound and never missed an appointment. In fact, she was looking forward every doctor’s visit because she knew she would hear her baby’s heartbeat.
Sadly, one particular visit crushed Courtney’s world, and it wasn’t because she learned her baby would be born with Down Syndrome, something she embraced with arms wide open, but because of her doctor’s reaction who advised them to terminate the pregnancy.
Of course, neither Courtney nor her husband ever considered anything like that. Their answer to the doctor’s suggestion was a resound no.
Some two years after baby girl Emersyn was born, Courtney still couldn’t get over the fact that the doctor believed she should have kill her baby only because she had Down Syndrome so she decided to send him a letter, expressing her feelings.
“A friend recently told me of when her prenatal specialist would see her child during her sonograms, he would comment, ‘He’s perfect’,” this mom wrote. “Once her son was born with Down syndrome, she visited that same doctor. He looked at her little boy and said, ‘I told you. He’s perfect’. Her story tore me apart. While I was so grateful for my friend’s experience, it filled me with such sorrow because of what I should have had.”
She further wrote how she wished she was treated the way her friend was.
“I wish you would have been that doctor. I came to you during the most difficult time in my life, I was terrified, anxious and in complete despair. I didn’t know the truth yet about my baby, and that’s what I desperately needed from you. But instead of support and encouragement, you suggested we terminate our child. I told you her name, and you asked us again if we understood how low our quality of life would be with a child with Down syndrome. You suggested we reconsider our decision to continue the pregnancy.
“From that first visit, we dreaded our appointments,” Courtney continued. “The most difficult time in my life was made nearly unbearable because you never told me the truth. My child was perfect.”
Courtney said that having Emersyn gave new meaning to her life.
“You see, Emersyn has not only added to our quality of life, but she’s also touched the hearts of thousands. She’s given us a purpose and a joy that is impossible to express, and she’s given us bigger smiles, more laughter and sweeter kisses than we’ve ever known. She’s opened our eyes to true beauty and pure love,” she concluded.
We are so happy Courtney didn’t follow her doctor’s advice and did the right thing.
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