Doctor said abortion was successful, baby was still born
The 25-week-old fetus had a defect, the doctor had to inject medicine to stop the fetus's heartbeat, but unexpectedly the baby was still alive when born.
Sofia Khan and her husband in the UK have an 18-month-old son, Mustafa. At the end of 2017, Sofia became pregnant with her second child, which she planned to name Mohammed, and was ready to welcome the baby.
At 20 weeks, doctors discovered that the fetus had spina bifida, a condition in which the baby's spine and spinal cord did not develop properly in the mother's womb. "I believed that the doctors would be able to cure him, but they also discovered that he had no knee joints and fluid around his brain," Sofia said.
Doctors said that spina bifida in the fetus was a terrible thing. The baby would most likely not survive the pregnancy. In pain and torment, Sofia and her husband finally decided to terminate the pregnancy. "We were very sad, but there was really no other way."
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Mohammed still cried when he was born even though the doctor said the fetus had stopped beating. Photo: SK |
At 25 weeks, Sofia went to St Mary's Hospital in Manchester to terminate her pregnancy. For a fetus as advanced as Sofia's, the doctor would inject a drug into the mother's abdomen. The baby's heartbeat would then stop, and the doctor would then intervene to help the mother deliver the dead fetus naturally.
With Sofia, after the injection, the doctor checked the fetal heartbeat. Sofia said that the doctor confirmed twice that the fetus no longer had a heartbeat, so he prepared for Sofia to be born. "While waiting to give birth, I still felt the baby kicking in my belly. I told the doctor but she said it was impossible. I suggested an ultrasound to be sure but she said it was not necessary," Sofia said.
10 hours later, Sofia gave birth and was shocked to hear the baby crying loudly. "The obstetrician was shocked too. She screamed for her colleagues to come and help. They took my baby away, then came back a while later and asked, 'What do you want us to do?'. At that moment, I was like a crazy person. I immediately hugged my baby and told him how much I loved him," Sofia said.
Mohammed was deformed, as the doctors had diagnosed. He lay in his mother's arms for an hour until he fainted. Sofia and her family buried Mohammed near their home. "He was a fighter. He was determined to live to come into the world and see his mother, even if it was just for an hour," the mother said sadly.
"I think about him every day. I want to tell the medical staff to listen to the mothers because a mother's instinct is very strong," Sofia said.
