Langley Baby Beats the Odds

Reprinted and condensed with Permission from the "B.C. Catholic."

Emily Rogers was born nine weeks premature in a delivery room staffed by more than 20 nurses, doctors and medical personnel. By the time she left the hospital, she weighed just over five pounds, had undergone two major operations and bolstered the faith of thousands of people around the world who will probably never meet her.

Emily was born with what her medical file refers to as an "overt congenital abnormality: a gross omphalocele". As she grew within her mother’s womb, her liver, stomach, intestines, bowel and spleen developed outside her body. Almost from day one, the Rogers knew it wouldn’t be an ordinary pregnancy. Although their family doctor was pro-life, once Emily’s medical problems became evident, the Rogers had frequent encounters with medical specialists that suggested they terminate the pregnancy.

Being pro-life, the couple devised a counter-strategy. They enlisted the prayers of everyone they knew. Emily’s saga and her fight for life, began when Marie realized she was pregnant.

She went to her doctor, delighted, yet with an uneasy feeling that something wasn’t right. Because a previous baby, David, had been stillborn in 1997 no chances were taken. Ultrasound tests were ordered and the radiologist who reviewed them with her promptly determined that there was "nothing there."

Marie insisted she was pregnant. "They were looking for a heartbeat at four weeks but you can’t detect one until five and a half." The radiologist insisted it was simply an unfertilized egg and suggested that she merely wanted to be pregnant. He then told her he had booked a D & C to remove what was there.

Marie was shocked. "I said I’ve got to be 100% sure that there’s no baby there." As it turned out, Marie was indeed pregnant and began bi-weekly ultrasounds throughout a pregnancy that would be closely watched because of the previous stillbirth.

At 19 weeks, the Rogers’ family doctor paid them a visit at home one evening to advise of "major complications." The ultrasound had detected an omphalocele and follow-up tests would need to be done.

They knew they could expect a confrontation at the hospital over the issue of continuing the pregnancy. "We knew that if we had to have an argument, we’d better have an educated argument."

They spent the weekend doing research, particularly on the Internet. They also began interviewing surgeons, looking for those who wouldn’t urge them to end the pregnancy. "Another strategy we used was we named the baby," said Ron, which helped the medical professionals to see that she was a baby, not a fetus. A grade 6 class wrote cards and prayers, joining their prayers with their parish and other faiths all over the Lower Mainland.

On Monday they went to the hospital and spent the entire day undergoing a battery of tests. As expected, the option of abortion was offered. When they insisted they were proceeding with the pregnancy, the issue of amniocentesis arose. "We were strongly against the general use of it," Ron said. During Marie’s first pregnancy, an amnio had caused complications with the birth; but the Rogers decided to undergo the procedure to determine whether any problems could be corrected before birth.

Unfortunately, Marie’s membranes ruptured as a result. She went on short term leave from her credit union job. "We kept ourselves up, but 40 weeks seems so long when you’re at 20 and there are complications."

One doctor offered to do the Rogers the "favor" of providing an abortion up to 24 weeks if they changed their minds.

At 36 weeks, the time had come. The C-section was scheduled for Monday, October 19th. Emily was born at 12:26 pm, emerging loud and crying. A priest quickly baptized her with sterile water from a syringe, and Emily’s temporarily external organs were immediately wrapped in gauze until they could be placed inside her abdomen four hours later. The Rogers knew there was a 30% chance she wouldn’t survive that long.

But survive she did. In a two-hour operation, her spleen, stomach and bowel were put back inside of her body. Her liver remained outside under a "silo" constructed to cover the organ until it settled by itself into the body cavity over the next few days.

After surgery, Emily was transferred to B.C. Children’s Hospital where she rallied immediately, doing better than anyone expected. On November 19, exactly one month after her birth, she headed home.

The Rogers proudly display photo albums of black-and-white pictures taken by staff to document the procedure. Surgeons plan to use the photos to educate obstetricians "to say that these babies have a better chance than they think," said Marie.

Undoubtedly the Rogers’ faith has left an impact on the medical staff they dealt with. Even those who put the abortion option before them seem to have been touched. One such doctor saw Emily sucking her thumb at 23 weeks on ultrasound. "She had tears in her eyes just before she left," Marie said.

Emily appears to have no other anomalies, and her prognosis is good. The Rogers now hope they can become a resource for other parents. "We said we’d be open to anybody who has a baby with this condition to call us," said Ron. "There is hope; don’t give up on these babies." Emily will vouch for that.