Identical Twins Went Home for Christmas After Parents Refused Abortion
It’s a story heard way too often: doctors repeatedly advised parents to have an abortion. In this case, doctors told parents to end the lives of one or two of their rare 200-million-to-one identical triplets amid fears they would lose all three babies before they were born.
But the couple trusted their instincts and moved 40 miles closer to a better hospital and fought for each of their children. Here’s more:
Ace Page, father of infant triplets, told the Daily Mail, “We’re lost for words to be honest, I don’t think it’s really sunk in that we’ve got three identical boys.” His sons, Cruz, Enzo, and Aljo, are identical triplets, originating from a single implanted egg. They were born 10 weeks prematurely in October at just 29 weeks and weighing two pounds, 7 ounces, two pounds, 11 ounces, and two pounds, 13 ounces, respectively, and spent their first three months after birth in a Bristol, England hospital before heading home just before Christmas.
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The couple, who used in vitro fertilization (IVF) to become pregnant, experienced the rare 200-million-to-one odds of having identical triplets. At first, they were told they were having twins, but at a follow-up ultrasound, the third baby was discovered.
Around 17 weeks of pregnancy, Shannon Page began fainting. That was when doctors discovered a complication that can occur with multiple pregnancies called twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS). The babies share a placenta, which sometimes results in one infant thriving at the expense of the others. With this condition, one or more infants can be born unusually small and even die. As a remedy, Page’s medical providers recommended selective abortion for one or two of the babies to ensure the survival of the third.
“It’s been an absolute whirlwind. We’ve been living out of hospital and trying to navigate each day as it comes,” said Shannon. “But now the boys are doing really well; their feeding tubes are out and they are feeding from bottles. Having them home for Christmas is the best present we could have possibly hoped for. We feel so incredibly fortunate. Our home will certainly never be the same again.”
Sadly these kinds of cases are commonplace.
The news devastated British mother Katie Johnson. Her unborn triplets’ lives were at risk, and doctors suggested aborting one or two of them so that the other might survive.
But Johnson and her husband, Patrick, chose life for all three, The Daily Mail reports.
Fortunately, babies Oliver, Aurelia and Oscar all survived. The London triplets were discharged from the hospital in time to celebrate Christmas at home with their parents, the report states.
Johnson said she learned about the threat to the triplets’ lives during her 12-week ultrasound scan. That day, doctors told her that the triplets were not sharing the placenta equally, and one baby was getting less sustenance than the others, according to the report.
“There was a risk to all of them,” she said. “Oliver was 25 percent smaller than his brother and the blood flow wasn’t getting to him properly. If Oliver died, Oscar could have died, too.”
As often happens in such situations, doctors suggested that she abort one or two of the unborn babies.
Many doctors now encourage or sometimes even pressure expecting mothers to abort their unborn babies when there is a medical problem. Sometimes, it’s because the mother has cancer. Other times, it’s because the unborn baby was diagnosed with Down syndrome or spina bifida – or even a cleft lip. Parents of children with disabilities frequently report feeling pressured to have abortions.
It is a trying situation for expecting mothers and one they should not have to face. Doctors are supposed to be trusted medical experts, professionals who people depend on to heal and save lives. And mothers, already troubled by the health problem itself, have the added burden of deciding whether to trust a medical professional’s advice or give their unborn baby a chance at life.
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