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WORCHESTER, England, June 23, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) – A first time mother, advised “quite forcibly” multiple times to abort her baby due to fatal prenatal conditions, gave birth to a healthy “miracle baby.”

According to Metro, when Kimberly James, a veterinary nurse, had an ultrasound at 12 weeks at Worcestershire Royal Hospital, she was told that her baby had become dangerously swollen. 24-year old Kimberly was warned that her unborn daughter would not survive and should be aborted.

Kimberly’s unborn daughter was diagnosed with hydrops fetalis, abnormal buildup of fluids in the tissue around the lungs, heart, abdomen, or under the skin, which affects 1,000 pregnancies every year with a survival rate of 10%.

Although she had been advised by two doctors to abort her baby, Kimberly was determined to trust her instinct and go ahead with her pregnancy, despite her baby’s low chance of survival.

After the ultrasound, Kimberly and her husband, Jack, were referred to a consultant. “It was then we were offered a termination pretty much the second time we had seen her,” Kimberly said.

“We said no because it was absolutely not what we wanted to do. We asked them why and unfortunately they couldn’t give an answer,” she continued. “We thought if they don’t know what it is then we’ll say ‘no’, even if it was a really poor diagnosis.”

The parents decided to pay for private scans and blood tests to check for other issues; however, these all came back negative. At 16 weeks, the couple returned to the hospital for an ultrasound to learn that the hydrops fetalis had disappeared completely. The doctors marvelled at the disappearance as it was unheard of.

But a later ultrasound revealed a fetal diagnosis of cystic hygroma, an abnormal growth on the neck or head that can lead to birth defects. Kimberly was again pressured to abort her daughter, but she “just trusted that she would survive.”

After 20 weeks, the cystic hygroma had likewise completely vanished. “The doctors were really, really shocked because they weren’t expecting it to disappear and the consultant couldn’t believe it,” Kimberly described.

Kimberly was told “quite forcibly” multiple times that abortion would be her best option. However, Kimberly and her husband refused to submit to the pressure and decided to give their daughter life.

Giving birth in lockdown was “surreal” for Kimberly. She was unable to have visitors; however, this caused more unity between the women on the antenatal ward.

“Everyone had their curtains open and were chatting to one another,” Kimberly explained. “It was refreshing that we were all supporting each other through this bizarre time.”

On May 9, after a 13-hour labor, Kimberly gave birth to a perfectly healthy little girl, Penelope, at the same hospital which had formerly advised her to abort her baby. Penelope defied all odds, weighing 7lb and 6oz, with both her fatal conditions completely resolved. The doctors were stunned when they checked for signs of her former conditions and found none.

The cause of the two medical conditions and their disappearance are still unknown. Penelope’s parents call her “a little miracle.”

“We are so in love with her,” Kimberly said. “And so thankful that we continued with the pregnancy despite the extremely poor prognosis at the start.”

Kimberly continued, “We had a very rocky start to our pregnancy but had the most wonderful outcome and we couldn’t be more in love with our little girl.”