It was wonderful news to hear from Vanessa McLeod and her husband; They were planning to have a second beautiful girl as their child.
However, when a routine checkup revealed something the couple didn’t expect, their joy was overshadowed by doubt and worry.
The midwife asked Vanessa’s husband to come in early so she could discuss something on the ultrasound because he was at work. Vanessa dreaded terrible.
“All I want to do is to keep my child”. As Vanessa sat with her parents in the parking lot waiting for her midwife, she told herself, “I just want to hold her.“
“ She was already ingrained so deeply in my heart, a part of me, and a part of who I am. I would have rather not lost her. I thought I could handle anything except losing her at that point. I simply desired to hold her.“
Doctors informed Vanessa that her baby lacked hands and arms.
It was like being hit in the stomach. It blew me away. On Love What Matters” Vanessa wrote, “It broke me, I cried, and my visions of my perfect baby were shattered.”
Her father said to Vanessa, “She is a blessing to our family,” as she processed the news. “She is exactly what our family needs, in my opinion. We learn so much from her”.
Sadly, Vanessa received little comfort from the doctors at her subsequent appointments.
“I had the impression that the doctors were letting me know that it was over. That her life was unsustainable and that we had given up all hope of having a child at home,” she stated.
When the doctor suggested we end our relationship, I was shocked. That had never occurred to me, yet they were right here, offering it. The medical geneticist abruptly and brutally stated, “But think about her quality of life,” when my husband and I began to express our desire to keep her. She won’t have any hands.'”
Vanessa claimed that the doctors made her feel bad because she wanted to prevent her child from being concerned about the kind of life she would lead.
“I knew I could never have an abortion, but I was always pro-choice. She stated, “But at that moment, I felt doubt.”
“I remember looking at my husband, who had a lot of questions but didn’t have any answers. However, he stated it so emphatically, passionately, and firmly: ” i will do everything in my power to look after her.”Everything will be built by me for her. Ido everything and I want her for the rest of my life, I will care for her “
In that very instant, they were both aware that their daughter was there for them to love and safeguard her no matter what.
Ivy was born four weeks early in February 2019 to Vanessa from Vancouver, British Columbia.
When she first saw her beautiful face, she said she felt “so peaceful” and was in perfect health.
Ivy later “developed huge amounts at a time and met every one of her achievements on time”. Vanessa also says that she wishes the doctors who advised her to have an abortion could “hear the magical sound of [Ivy’s] laughter” when she thinks about them.
Vanessa and her husband are full of optimism for the future because they are “absolutely, undeniably perfect. “Ivy, Vanessa says, needs all the self-assurance she can get to face the world.
Vanessa claims that she discovered numerous resources for children with limb differences in spite of what the doctors told her. Ivy develops and adapts with the love and support of her family, never losing anything she never had.
Most importantly, Vanessa wrote, she is aware that she is “absolutely, without a doubt, undeniably perfect.”
We likewise believe she’s totally great. Other families in a similar situation can learn from Vanessa and her husband’s example.
Please spread the word so that more people can view this lovely family and wish them well.