Some in the medical profession in the UK don’t have the will to fight for the unborn. For them, any significant risk of defect in the fetus is reason enough to try to persaude the expectant mother to have an abortion. But some mothers and their unborn push back!
Such was the case with Baby Alfie from Tamworth in the English midlands. Thirty-year-old Rachel Collins was so excited at becoming pregnant she started a diary written to her baby. At the time of the 12-week scan she wrote “I see you for the first time and you’re perfect - spinning and putting on a real show, we were so proud and daddy had a tear in his eye.”
But joy turned to despair six weeks later when it was discovered that Rachel was suffering from Oligohydramnios - a deficiency of amniotic fluid. At first she didn’t understand what that was or what it meant, but her consultant whom she disparagingly referred to as Mr. Honest didn’t mince words or opinion.
As Rachel wrote in her diary the consultant said "Your baby has a 10 per cent chance of survival, you should expect a miscarriage - the baby will survive the next two weeks at best, you should have a termination".
Devastated, she wrote “I left the hospital and vowed never to return there ever again. I wanted a second opinion - something in my heart was telling me we could do this. I wasn’t going to give up hope - a 10% chance was not zero.”
The diagnosis of ‘Mr. Honest’ is even more remarkable when you consider what Wikipedia says about Oligohydramnios. “It may also occur simply due to dehydration of the mother, maternal use of angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors, or without a determinable cause...… The use of oligohydramnios as a predictor of gestational complications is controversial.”
Collins had run into the Doctor that just didn’t want to try for whatever reason. Some people are so ingrained with the idea of not overcoming the difficult challenges that they constantly stick to the path of least resistance. For this medical practice that meant abortion was preferable to a battle for life.
But Rachel was determined to go on and Heartlands Hospital in Birmingham agreed to take her on as a patient and help her through the pregnancy. She said: "They told me it was going to be tough, that he might have a squashed face or a club foot, but they said they would give him a chance.”
She wrote in her diary at 20 weeks – “Our new consultant is amazing and every fine detail of you is checked down to the fine vessels in your brain - she never mentioned termination and supported our choice to fight for you. I’m going to have steroid injections to bring your lung development on - it's minor really, I would do anything for you. You wont stand a chance if you’re born before 24 weeks - I’m taking every day as a milestone.”
Things were still critical. If he was born before 24 weeks the National Health Service would automatically consider him unviable and would prohibit state funds being used to try and keep him alive. She almost miscarried at 22 weeks but mother and son held on.
At 30 weeks a C-Section was ordered. The medical team wanted to fully anesthetize her but she insisted on being conscious because she needed to know if her son had made it. Rachel writes in the diary on October 21st 2013: “I can feel nothing from the neck down, I'm being pulled and tugged, it feels like ages but it's only minutes and you are born, my beautiful boy at 3.48am - and you are breathing - I cry tears of joy, I have never been this happy in my life.”
Collins told the media: “He came out screaming - he defied them all. He is a little miracle. It was a nightmare pregnancy, but every day he was hanging on was a blessing, he is now 6lb 14oz and has no health problems. When Alfie is older I shall give it (the diary) to him, it will be a testament to how much we wanted him and how hard we fought to bring him into the world.”
Unfortunately, for every great story that we hear about like this, there are too many that are never heard of; women who didn’t have the strength to fight, or were unable to find medical professionals to take on their case. The sanitized abortion culture has to be challenged in order to bring about change and more adequately protect the unborn.
