Warned her baby only had a 1 percent chance of survival, a pregnant woman whose waters broke at 16 weeks refused to have an abortion.
Katy Evans, from Hitchin, Hertfordshire, in England, was advised she terminate her pregnancy and told her baby was unlikely to live—but she refused to give in and insisted on letting nature take its course.
“I’m a positive person, by nature, and I refused to give up on the pregnancy or mourn this baby until we knew exactly what was happening,” the 35-year-old said, according to The Daily Mail.
“I joined Facebook support groups on my phone, read medical papers and exchanged messages with other moms,” she continued. “I discovered that, in reality, there seemed to be a much higher rate of survival in these cases than the 1 percent figure from official statistics. That gave me hope.”
A consultant came to see Evans after two days in the hospital to see if she would agree to a termination.
“I told her that no, I didn’t want an abortion. I said that I wanted nature to take its course,” Evans recalled. “She was clearly shocked because she told me that, perhaps, I should speak to my husband, implying that he’d be less emotional.”
Evans was discharged from the hospital and told to avoid activities that cause infection risk, such as taking a bath or swimming. She said she and her husband, Rich, prepared for the worst, but they were relieved when days passed and she didn’t miscarry.
Miraculously, scans revealed two weeks later that her waters had replenished themselves in her womb—something her doctors had never seen before. The scans also showed that the baby seemed to be developing normally.
“It was the first time that I allowed myself to cry,” Katy Evans said.
The doctors said there was still a high risk of infection and her waters could break again, but Evans was elated at the good news.
“I barely heard the doctors telling me all this because I was on cloud nine and thought everything was fantastic,” she said. “Rich had to gently bring me back to reality, because there was still a chance of everything going wrong.
“As weeks went by and the pregnancy progressed, every week felt like a huge milestone.”
The couple and their 3-year-old daughter, Amber, welcomed baby Leo nearly five months after Katy’s waters broke the first time. He was born six weeks early, weighing 4 lbs., 13 oz. and went home after just five days.
“Holding Leo in my arms, at last, was extra special,” Katy Evans recalled. “Knowing he was safe, despite all the odds, was overwhelming. Little Amber adored her baby brother too.”
Eight months has gone by, and Leo—whose grandparents call him the miracle baby—is thriving at 17 lbs.
“We feel unbelievably lucky,” Evans said. “It’s just over a year now since I was sitting in that hospital bed, waiting for a miscarriage. We’re all so blessed and grateful to have him. He’s a very special little boy.”
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