A south Wales couple ignored doctors’ advice to abort their daughter and now they’re sharing the story of their happy, healthy “miracle” child.
Willow Duffield was just 2 lbs., 6 oz. when she was born. Today she’s nine months old and being described as happy, thriving and on-target developmentally.
“She had so many different things that were stacking up against her. She is our miracle baby,” Leanne Duffield told WalesOnline.
For the first 20 weeks Duffield’s pregnancy had been normal. Then after a routine scan she and husband Chris were given distressing news. Doctors said there was a lack of amniotic fluid, and that this generally means the child has suffered abnormalities that would make survival impossible.
In keeping with what has become the standard when a child is diagnosed in utero with health problems, the Duffield’s were offered an abortion, but they refused.
“We didn’t even have to talk about it,” Leanne Duffield told WalesOnline. “It was one of those things we would never have even considered. It didn’t even enter our thoughts.”
The couple has four other children; Ashlea, eight, Deacon, six, Neraya, three, and Ayelah, two.
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Duffield was scheduled for her next prenatal appointment, but then her water broke at 23 weeks and she was admitted to the hospital.
“When we had been for the scan there was no fluid at all,” she said. “But when my waters broke at 23 weeks it was just like it was with the others. It was a gush and I couldn’t understand.”
Doctors were afraid the baby’s lungs would be too undeveloped for her to breathe on her own or even for medics to ventilate her, WalesOnline reported.
“They thought I would deliver the baby and we had the bereavement midwife come and talk to us. It was a bit overwhelming,” said Duffield.
However her labor did not progress and Duffield was later transferred to another hospital where she was kept on bed rest and given steroids to help the child’s lungs develop. With Duffield confined to the hospital, the family shared Christmas dinner with her there in her ward.
On January 13 she had a potentially fatal placental abruption, when the placenta detaches from the interior of the womb, and Willow was delivered by emergency C-section.
Even though the baby was born with lung problems, she did not have any of the complications with her limbs or spine the doctors had feared.
After nearly 100 days in the hospital Willow Duffield was allowed to go home in April with an oxygen tank, where she is steadily improving.
“A couple of oxygen tubes are nothing compared to what we were prepared for. We didn’t know what to expect, but we had prepared ourselves for the worst case scenario,” said Chris.