"Your baby won't survive. You will miscarry."
Those dreadful words spoken by her doctor greeted a pregnant Johanna Morton from New York after she underwent an ultrasound test at a hospital on Dec. 23, 2015.
The doctor told her the baby had serious congenital heart defects and advised her to abort the baby, Christian News reported.
"I was 12 weeks gestation when we were told something was wrong with my baby's heart. I was told she will not survive. 'You will miscarry,' [they said]," Morton shared on social media. "I left the office in tears and heartbroken."
Morton felt the pressure building up as weeks passed by as her baby's heart beat slower and slower while the doctors' diagnosis became gloomier and gloomier. She was told the baby had a full heart block and an atrioventricular (AV) canal defect, as well heterotaxy syndrome, meaning the heart was not where it was supposed to be. One of the baby's heart valves was possibly not growing either.
"With each new appointment seemed to come another diagnosis, another heartbreak and a waterfall of tears," Morton said. "I was told, 'She's going to be stillborn. Save yourself the pain,' [and] 'I wouldn't be surprised if you come back next week, and have her still born.' There was little to no hope for my baby."
But despite all the dire prognosis, Morton and her husband clung to their faith in God and refused to even think of abruptly ending their child's life. They prayed and prayed and prayed.
On June 14, Morton gave birth via C-section to the baby girl they named Clara Ray who days later underwent open heart surgery at Boston Children's Hospital.
The operation was a success!
A month later, Clara Ray was discharged from the hospital. Last November, she was delighted to see her first snowfall from the window of their home.
"She is a miracle," Morton wrote on the "Love What Matters" Facebook page, which shows a picture of Baby Clara Ray looking at the falling snow outside the window. "This is her seeing her first snowfall. She absolutely loved it. I can't explain the emotions we felt as we watched that smile come across her face. Pure joy."
