{"id":262914,"date":"2022-02-17T18:45:11","date_gmt":"2022-02-18T00:45:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=262914"},"modified":"2022-02-18T00:19:35","modified_gmt":"2022-02-18T06:19:35","slug":"chose-life-over-abortion-prognosis-odds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/chose-life-over-abortion-prognosis-odds\/","title":{"rendered":"We chose life over abortion after a grim prognosis… and our son beat the odds"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author.<\/i><\/p>\n

On May 10, 2021, the day after celebrating my first Mother\u2019s Day, my water broke at 17.5 weeks. PPROM (preterm premature rupture of membranes) occurs within 1-3% of pregnancies, though usually not as early as mine. There was an 80% chance I would go into labor within 1-3 days, in which case our baby wouldn\u2019t survive.<\/p>\n

But with intense care and lots and lots of prayer, our little fighter, Jack, stayed inside and alive for the next 14 weeks, making his debut just shy of 32 weeks. He was born August 17, 2021 at 6:18 pm, weighing 3lb 12oz and measuring 16.5\u201d. He may be small, but boy is he mighty. And while he’s named after his dad (and grandfather), his name happens to mean “God is gracious,” which couldn\u2019t be more fitting.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Photo courtesy of Jillian O’Connor<\/p><\/div>\n

To be completely candid, we didn\u2019t know if we\u2019d be buying a crib or a casket at the end of this.<\/p>\n

Along the way, we were told by several doctors our baby had anywhere from a 1-30% chance of survival. And if he did survive, he would have serious health conditions. We were told the chances of him even making it to 23 weeks\/viability was \u201cgrim.\u201d We were told he may have Trisomy 13, Trisomy 18, Trisomy 21 or triploidy (this was unrelated to my water breaking). We were told the chances of him living were \u201cgrave\u201d and that if he survived, he would likely be on a lifelong trach and feed through a g-tube. We were told he could have significant limb deformities. We were told it was possible, no matter how old he was once born, that his lungs may never have developed past 17 weeks \u2014\u00a0which would be fatal.<\/p>\n

We were told it was likely he or I would develop an infection, like chorioamnionitis or sepsis, that would land us in the ICU. We were told he could die. We were told I could die.<\/p>\n

None of these things happened. Not one. Jack is perfectly healthy (and I\u2019m fine, too).<\/p>\n

At one point, we were given the suggestion\/option to \u201cterminate the pregnancy,\u201d which is just a less abrupt way of suggesting we kill our baby. But we never believed it was our call to decide if he got the chance to live or not, and we were never giving up on him. Ultimately, if God\u2019s plan was for him to be here, there was a 100% chance of him being here. And that is the only statistic we clung to. Had we given into the fear, this incredible human so worthy of life wouldn\u2019t be here today.<\/p>\n

READ:\u00a0Doctors told us to abort six times \u2013 but Arianna Jude proved them all wrong<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Do I sometimes wish we had the picture-perfect pregnancy? Absolutely. But in addition to giving us the best blessing of our lives, this journey has changed and deepened us in ways that never would have happened if things were \u2018normal.\u2019 It has given us greater purpose and the ability to help others in ways we couldn\u2019t have before. It has humbled us and made us stronger, more patient, more hopeful, more compassionate, more trusting.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re filled with immense gratitude for those who cared for and supported us along the way. I\u2019m grateful for the incredible women I met in support groups who walked this path before me and provided empathy and encouragement through the scariest times. We\u2019re grateful for the thousands of prayers – literally, thousands – from \u201cstrangers\u201d (now called \u201cfriends\u201d) in Facebook groups, church groups, clergy and saints, our close friends and family and their close friends and families, too.<\/p>\n

\"Permission

Photo courtesy of Jillian O’Connor<\/p><\/div>\n

We\u2019re grateful for the doctors and nurses (the good ones!) who took incredible care of us. We\u2019re grateful for those who constantly checked in, sent cards and care packages and took this journey with us. We\u2019re grateful for our parents who visited regularly, took care of our cats and plants, mowed our lawn, cooked us meals, lent ears, hands and shoulders and did everything and anything they could to support us.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m grateful for my husband, who slept on various hospital futons and cots for 96 nights between my hospital stay and Jack\u2019s, who was there for me during 3 am breakdowns, transformed horrid hospital meals into something edible and literally never left my side throughout it all.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re grateful for Jack, who is truly the strongest person we have ever met. He has survived more challenges in his eight months of existence than we have in our entire lives. The NICU nurses have commented from day one on his feisty personality, and it\u2019s that strong will that helped him survive the most difficult circumstances. He is our hero and we can\u2019t believe we get to call him our son.<\/p>\n

And most importantly, we\u2019re grateful to God, who has given us the greatest blessing, a true miracle and a story of hope, for ourselves and for others.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike\u201d Live Action News on Facebook<\/a>\u00a0for more pro-life news and commentary!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author. On May 10, 2021, the day after celebrating my first Mother\u2019s Day, my water broke at 17.5 weeks. PPROM (preterm premature rupture of membranes) occurs within 1-3% of pregnancies, though usually not as early as mine. There was an 80% chance I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":866,"featured_media":262943,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[7077,9455],"tags":[19,15850,4592,15505,4120,15506],"yoast_head":"\nWe chose life over abortion after a grim prognosis... and our son beat the odds<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"One mom's water broke at 17.5 weeks, and doctors recommended abortion. But today, both she and her son are totally healthy.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/chose-life-over-abortion-prognosis-odds\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"We chose life over abortion after a grim prognosis... and our son beat the odds\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"One mom's water broke at 17.5 weeks, and doctors recommended abortion. But today, both she and her son are totally healthy.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/chose-life-over-abortion-prognosis-odds\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Live Action News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-02-18T00:45:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-02-18T06:19:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/photo-jillian-o-connor.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"650\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jillian O'Connor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jillian O'Connor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/chose-life-over-abortion-prognosis-odds\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/chose-life-over-abortion-prognosis-odds\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jillian O'Connor\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/72e60283f11739ea71506d44b61b0c55\"},\"headline\":\"We chose life over abortion after a grim prognosis… and our son beat the odds\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-02-18T00:45:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-02-18T06:19:35+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/chose-life-over-abortion-prognosis-odds\/\"},\"wordCount\":886,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"abortion\",\"Jillian O'Connor\",\"NICU\",\"PPROM\",\"preemie\",\"Preterm Premature Rupture of Membranes\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Guest Column\",\"Human Interest\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/chose-life-over-abortion-prognosis-odds\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/chose-life-over-abortion-prognosis-odds\/\",\"name\":\"We chose life over abortion after a grim prognosis... and our son beat the odds\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2022-02-18T00:45:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-02-18T06:19:35+00:00\",\"description\":\"One mom's water broke at 17.5 weeks, and doctors recommended abortion. But today, both she and her son are totally healthy.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/chose-life-over-abortion-prognosis-odds\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/chose-life-over-abortion-prognosis-odds\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/chose-life-over-abortion-prognosis-odds\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"We chose life over abortion after a grim prognosis… and our son beat the odds\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Live Action News\",\"description\":\"Covering Human Rights, Abortion, & Pro-Life Issues\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Live Action\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png\",\"width\":701,\"height\":710,\"caption\":\"Live Action\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/liveaction\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/liveactionorg\/\",\"https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/LiveActionFilms\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/LiveActionFilms\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/72e60283f11739ea71506d44b61b0c55\",\"name\":\"Jillian O'Connor\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/67efde1a199722856ea1b5bd5935f992?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/67efde1a199722856ea1b5bd5935f992?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jillian O'Connor\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/author\/jillian-oconnor\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"We chose life over abortion after a grim prognosis... and our son beat the odds","description":"One mom's water broke at 17.5 weeks, and doctors recommended abortion. But today, both she and her son are totally healthy.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/chose-life-over-abortion-prognosis-odds\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"We chose life over abortion after a grim prognosis... and our son beat the odds","og_description":"One mom's water broke at 17.5 weeks, and doctors recommended abortion. But today, both she and her son are totally healthy.","og_url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/chose-life-over-abortion-prognosis-odds\/","og_site_name":"Live Action News","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction","article_published_time":"2022-02-18T00:45:11+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-02-18T06:19:35+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":650,"url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/photo-jillian-o-connor.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Jillian O'Connor","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@liveaction","twitter_site":"@liveaction","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jillian O'Connor","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/chose-life-over-abortion-prognosis-odds\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/chose-life-over-abortion-prognosis-odds\/"},"author":{"name":"Jillian O'Connor","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/72e60283f11739ea71506d44b61b0c55"},"headline":"We chose life over abortion after a grim prognosis… and our son beat the odds","datePublished":"2022-02-18T00:45:11+00:00","dateModified":"2022-02-18T06:19:35+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/chose-life-over-abortion-prognosis-odds\/"},"wordCount":886,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization"},"keywords":["abortion","Jillian O'Connor","NICU","PPROM","preemie","Preterm Premature Rupture of Membranes"],"articleSection":["Guest Column","Human Interest"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/chose-life-over-abortion-prognosis-odds\/","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/chose-life-over-abortion-prognosis-odds\/","name":"We chose life over abortion after a grim prognosis... and our son beat the odds","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website"},"datePublished":"2022-02-18T00:45:11+00:00","dateModified":"2022-02-18T06:19:35+00:00","description":"One mom's water broke at 17.5 weeks, and doctors recommended abortion. But today, both she and her son are totally healthy.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/chose-life-over-abortion-prognosis-odds\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/chose-life-over-abortion-prognosis-odds\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/chose-life-over-abortion-prognosis-odds\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"We chose life over abortion after a grim prognosis… and our son beat the odds"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/","name":"Live Action News","description":"Covering Human Rights, Abortion, & Pro-Life Issues","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization","name":"Live Action","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png","width":701,"height":710,"caption":"Live Action"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction","https:\/\/twitter.com\/liveaction","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/liveactionorg\/","https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/LiveActionFilms\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/LiveActionFilms"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/72e60283f11739ea71506d44b61b0c55","name":"Jillian O'Connor","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/67efde1a199722856ea1b5bd5935f992?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/67efde1a199722856ea1b5bd5935f992?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jillian O'Connor"},"url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/author\/jillian-oconnor\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262914"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/866"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=262914"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262914\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":262991,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262914\/revisions\/262991"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/262943"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=262914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=262914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=262914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}