Every mother craves a pregnancy where everything goes according to plan. Although, in many cases that just isn’t possible. However, no matter what happens, those mothers only see love in their babies, no matter what. One mother gave birth to a baby with Down syndrome, and all she wanted was for her doctor to see how “perfect’ she was regardless. But, instead of love and compassion, the doctor recommended she terminate the pregnancy. Later, she wrote a letter to that doctor to tell how his reaction to her down syndrome baby made her feel.
Courtney Williams Baker is the mother to Emersyn, a baby with Down syndrome. When Emersyn was conceived, she went to see her doctor for general pre-natal checkups. That’s when she was informed that her unborn baby had Down syndrome. Instead of the joyous appointment of listening to the baby’s heartbeat, she and her partner were filled with dread while the doctor recommended, they terminate the pregnancy. A recommendation they refused.
In 2016, two years after Emersyn was born, Courtney decided to write her doctor a letter. It started off talking about her friend who had also given birth to a baby with Down syndrome. “A friend recently told me of when her prenatal specialist would see her child during her sonograms, he would comment, ‘He’s perfect’,” wrote Courtney. “Once her son was born with Down syndrome, she visited that same doctor. He looked at her little boy and said, ‘I told you. He’s perfect’. Her story tore me apart. While I was so grateful for my friend’s experience, it filled me with such sorrow because of what I should have had. “
“You never told me the truth“
Courtney expressed how she wished she was treated the same way as her friend’s doctor but her own recommended an abortion simply because of her unborn daughter’s condition. She wrote: “I wish you would have been that doctor. I came to you during the most difficult time in my life, I was terrified, anxious and in complete despair. I didn’t know the truth yet about my baby, and that’s what I desperately needed from you. But instead of support and encouragement, you suggested we terminate our child. I told you her name, and you asked us again if we understood how low our quality of life would be with a child with Down syndrome. You suggested we reconsider our decision to continue the pregnancy.“
The doctor’s reactions made it hard for Courtney to look forward to her appointments. “From that first visit, we dreaded our appointments,” she wrote. “The most difficult time in my life was made nearly unbearable because you never told me the truth. My child was perfect. “
Courtney went on to say how Emersyn, her baby with Down syndrome, had given new meaning to her life. “You see, Emersyn has not only added to our quality of life, but she’s also touched the hearts of thousands. She’s given us a purpose and a joy that is impossible to express, and she’s given us bigger smiles, more laughter and sweeter kisses than we’ve ever known. She’s opened our eyes to true beauty and pure love.”
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