Leah Darrow was 22 weeks pregnant with her ninth baby when she heard the words no mother wants to hear from her doctor: “There’s a lot wrong with your baby.” Facing a situation in which some mothers might feel pressure from medical professionals to simply ‘let the baby pass,’ Darrow unhesitatingly decided to fight for her son Sylvester’s survival.
Leah told her family’s story in a recently released Live Action video:
Leah introduces herself as the wife of Ricky Soldinie, and the mother of seven living children and two children in heaven. Formerly a contestant on America’s Top Model, Darrow now raises her children with her husband on an 80-acre farm in the Ozarks, while managing her business as a speaker, success coach, author, and podcaster to motivate others — particularly, other women.
In her 22nd week of pregnancy with Baby Sylvester (Sly), Darrow woke up one morning with a high fever and began experiencing what she thought were Braxton Hicks contractions and some spotting. She and her husband went to the hospital right away. The doctor had a concerning diagnosis for the couple.
“He told me, ‘There’s a lot wrong with your baby. There’s a lot wrong.’ I said, ‘Okay. Well, tell me what’s wrong.’ And he goes, ‘Well. There’s fluid on his brain, there’s fluid in his stomach, there’s some indicators and markers for some chromosomal defects,’” Darrow recalled.
Shortly after she heard from the doctor, a nurse told Darrow about her options: “If you want to choose to not intervene, you can. Just let us know and that’s an option that you can take.”
READ: ‘GLORY TO GOD’: Pro-life speaker and author Leah Darrow’s son, born at 22 weeks, is home
“I remember just kind of being stunned by the process of that question,” Darrow said. “And I remember looking at her. Immediately, I said, ‘Intervene. Intervene. Save my child. You need to hear it from my mouth. If the choice is me or my child, you save my child. I lived an amazing life. You save my child.'”
Darrow had to undergo an emergency C-section due to complications with both her and the baby, whose heart rate was dropping dramatically. Baby Sly was born at 11:56 pm on May 1, 2024, at 22 weeks’ gestation, and weighing just 1 lb and 2 oz. He was immediately intubated and warmed because his lungs were not developed. Darrow was also in critical condition after her C-section, battling sepsis from a blood pathogen.
Once recovered, Leah and her family actively advocated for Sly during what would be a 199-day journey in the NICU.
Sly’s condition was precarious. “I cannot tell you how many times he almost died.There’s so many,” Darrow said. “I can’t fix the fact that he has chronic lung disease. I can’t fix the fact that he has metabolic bone disease, and I reject the thought that I can do nothing to help my son.”
Darrow explained how she embraced the mindset which strengthened her to advocate for her son.
“I began thinking, ‘What can I do?’ I can show up every day that I can. I can show up with my best self. And that’s good for my own mental health, too. So, I’m gonna take a shower, I’m gonna put myself together. I’m gonna go up like, ‘Hey, what’s up everybody? I’m Sly’s mom.’ Because Sly can’t talk. He’s not able to advocate for himself. Just like a baby in the womb can’t advocate for themselves.”
While showing kindness and speaking “words of hope and life” to the doctors and nurses at the hospital, Darrow was determined to uplift little Sly’s humanity. “It’s important for me, for the nurses and Sly’s team to not see him as ‘1891’. That’s his room number. He’s not ‘1891’. He’s Sylvester Simeon Soldinie. He’s got six older brothers and sisters. He’s got a mom and a dad that love him.”
Sly slowly made progress, putting on weight. Darrow described how she and Sly healed together during their “skin-to-skin” moments in the NICU. The whole family was part of the journey, and Darrow praises her husband and six other living children: “I don’t know what I would have done without Ricky,” and “My other six kids are absolutely phenomenal. They have been amazing with Sly.”
Darrow explained how seeing some lives as less valuable than others because of inconvenience or disabilities is a “limiting belief” that is “infecting” society.
“Our potential doesn’t begin just because we want it to. Our potential doesn’t begin at a certain age. It’s been given to us and that potential is for good. And no matter how long Sly lives, I will always defend his life and protect it and make sure that it is a life that is worthy of his calling,” she said.
