Family celebrates miracle baby's first birthday after told she had only 15 percent chance of survival
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Jo and Chris Scott were told their unborn daughter Emie was "incompatible with life" and the doctors claimed the little girl only had a 15 percent chance of survival.
Highlights
Catholic Online (https://www.catholic.org)
10/13/2016 (8 years ago)
Published in Marriage & Family
LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - The Scotts refused to listen as doctor after doctor recommended they abort their precious unborn daughter.
Jo, who is a midwife and Chris, an IT consultant, already have a 4-year-old daughter and they refused to let doctors convince them to abort.
"They were telling me she wasn't going to survive," Jo shared with Mirror. "But whatever they told me, I didn't believe them.
"I felt like my whole world was ending but my gut instinct was telling me she was going to be alright. Every time I went to [Oxford's John Radcliffe Hospital] they said to me, 'You should have a termination.' It must have been four or five times.
"They told me there was an 85 percent chance she would die but I said, 'I would rather she died on her own than me let somebody physically kill her."
At Jo's 12-week and 20-week scans, doctors told the couple Emie would be born with Down's syndrome.
They attempted to warn Jo and Chris that Emie may also have the rare chromosome disorder triploidy, but the Scotts refused to listen.
It got to the point where Jo recalled a time when a doctor looked her in the eyes and said, "She will not make it."
Emie wriggled around in her mother's belly and Jo knew she would never give in.
Emie was delivered via c-section at 31-weeks-old on October 5, 2015, after Jo developed a rare liver and blood clotting disorder called HELLP syndrome.
Jo lost four liters of blood and was rushed into intensive care. After 36 hours, Joe was fine and Emie was able to return home December 17th. 25;;08 *1 45;;6*
Emie was born at only 1-pound-11-ounces, remains smaller than other children her age and is living proof that doctors are not always right.
At one-year-old, Emie wore a beautiful pink dress and had a birthday party with the other kids at her daycare unit.
"It was amazing to think that a year ago we didn't know what we -whether we would be celebrating or not," Jo explained. "But she's feisty, she's cheeky, she's independent and she is amazing."
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