A woman suffering severe bleeding in the third trimester was told to have an abortion by her doctors; she refused, and now both she and her daughter are healthy.
In an interview with Kidspot, Rachel explained that she was diagnosed with subchorionic hemorrhaging after she began bleeding while in her third trimester. A subchorionic hemorrhage occurs when the placenta detaches from the uterine wall. Rachel was admitted to the hospital three separate times because her bleeding was so severe.
“The bleeding was so bad, there were times where I was properly hemorrhaging,” she said. “They thought I’d eventually have a devastating miscarriage that could kill me.”
Doctors told her to have an abortion, but she wanted her baby despite the risk to herself. “We really wanted her, so I took a chance,” she said. “My pregnancy progressed well, the baby looked normal in my scans and she was moving around, even though my whole uterus was filled with blood.”
The third trimester of pregnancy begins at 27 weeks, far past what is generally accepted to be the age of “viability.” Given that, it seems odd that doctors would have encouraged her to have an abortion, instead of suggesting a premature induction or C-section which would have given the baby a strong chance of survival. An early delivery in which a baby is too premature to survive is not an induced abortion. Induced abortion intentionally kills a child to end a pregnancy; this is not medically necessary. The intention should always be to save both mother and baby, not to deliberately kill one.
Eventually, the bleeding slowed, and Rachel and her husband thought this meant the worst was behind them. Then her water broke at 29 weeks, which doctors said was due to the bleeding.
“They checked the baby on the monitors and she wasn’t doing well — her heart rate was really slow so my obstetrician delivered her straight away,” Rachel said. “It was a frightening experience — I knew she would be small and it would be a tough journey ahead. Vivienne gave one little squeak when she was born, then the neonatologist brought her over to us. She looked like a tiny little alien.”
After 10 weeks in the NICU, Vivienne was allowed to go home with a gastric tube to help with feeding, and by one year old, she was weaned off the tube. But despite everything, Vivienne is happy and healthy today, with no developmental delays.
“She is confident, and friendly, and also very determined,” Rachel said. “All of those aspects of her personality are what got her through her prematurity.” She’s also very close to her two older siblings, and her family has never regretted fighting for her chance at life. “We feel so lucky to have her in our lives she is such a special part of our family.”
