W hen Emmerson Morgan and Ben Davidson arrived for a routine 12-week pregnancy scan , their heads were filled with novel plans to break the exciting news to their families and friends .
Their baby was a “ very happy surprise ”, Emmerson says .
“ Our first 12 weeks were just amazing .
“ We had had a dating scan at about seven weeks , and then we did what is common practice and decided to wait until three months to tell everybody .
“ At our 12-week scan we kind of skipped along … we were super excited . Ben and I had an app on our phones , and every day we were monitoring her progress . We talked with her , played her music , read her stories right from really early on .”
It was only on reflection she realised the radiographer ’ s expression had turned quite serious as the scan progressed .
“ She told me to go to the bathroom and release some more fluid out of my bladder ,” Emmerson recalls .
“ I had a moment in the bathroom of thinking : I have a feeling something might not be quite right . And , when I went back in , she told us something was wrong .”
Despite Ben ’ s repeated queries as to whether her assessment could possibly be incorrect , the radiographer confirmed there was , sadly , no possibility of that . The only question remaining was which significant condition their baby had .
“ Adisyn had a cystic hygroma , and that ’ s an indicator of one of three things : Turner , Down or Noonan syndromes .”
Turner Syndrome is a chromosomal condition that affects only females . While some babies don ’ t make it to term and die during the pregnancy , others do survive – with their condition sometimes discovered only when they hit puberty . Down Syndrome is also a chromosomal condition , while Noonan Syndrome is a genetic disorder .
“ I ’ ll never forget the look on Ben ’ s face . I was just a wailing wreck ,” Emmerson says .
“ By the time we got out to the car , my GP had rung to make us an emergency appointment for the following morning , and we sat just crying in the car .”
Instead of the warm-hearted , fun pregnancy announcement they had planned , Emmerson and Ben now had to find a way to break it to their loved ones that they were expecting their first child , a baby who already had big odds to overcome .
It was to be the first of countless bittersweet moments .
When the couple , who were living in Wellington at the time , went to a follow-up appointment at the Maternal Foetal Medicine Department , the outlook became bleaker .
The 13-week scan revealed Emmerson and Ben ’ s first child was a little girl . It also confirmed she had Turner Syndrome – in essence , their daughter had just one X chromosome instead of two , bringing a raft of potential complications . The specialist advice was , in this case , their baby girl would likely not make it .
“ I don ’ t think I slept at all for three weeks . I just felt like I was waiting for her to die – it was awful ,” Emmerson says .
While unspoken , the couple was left with the impression clinicians felt the best course was termination .
Heartened by research of babies who had survived Turner Syndrome , including talking to parents of children with the condition , Emmerson and Ben resolved to leave the ultimate decision with their daughter ; they would continue with the pregnancy .
“ We got to 15 weeks and she was doing everything that she should , and she was growing .
“ By this stage I had decided – as long she wasn ’ t suffering ; that was my big thing – I wanted to give her a chance at life , and I would carry her for as long as she decided . With Ben ’ s support , that ’ s what we did .”
Adisyn-Hope
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