When we first heard the news as first-time parents, we were very shocked. My first reaction was, “God, you sabo me ah? All my friends have healthy babies. Why me?”

 

“My first reaction was, “God, you sabo me ah?”

 

From then, our visits to the doctors hadn’t been encouraging because we were classified as a high-risk pregnancy and were subjected to frequent scans. Every time we went to the doctors for scans, they would tell us that they could see that a particular organ was not there. Even if it was there, it was small and it could be an issue when the baby was born. They even told us that the baby might have a heart attack while in the womb and would not survive the pregnancy at all. So the doctors were constantly reminding us of the options of abortion even though we weren’t thinking of that.

 

Someone close to us who was a medical professional also spoke to us. He said,  “Are you full of faith or are you naïve. Why are you thinking of keeping the child if the Amnio (Amniocentesis) test came out positive? Do you want to take a look at sick children hooked up to machines and tubes? Have you ever considered the quality of life of the child? He may be able to be discharged from the hospital but you never know whether he could sit, stand or even walk out of the house. Keeping the child when the test is positive is criminal.”

 

That conversation really shook us.

 

When our parents found out about the option of abortion, they too were supportive if we should decide to choose abortion.

 

I’d never considered abortion in my entire life. I never thought that I would think about abortion for myself, for my body. But when we were presented with this prognosis by the doctors, abortion became real and it was almost tempting.

 

The call to believe

 

I found myself negotiating with God, asking him “… but God, can this be an exceptional case where abortion is allowed?” Honestly, we did not know what would happen next, whether things would be all right or whether God would heal the baby. But one thing was for sure – we knew that we couldn’t abort the child.

 

One Sunday morning when we were doing our quiet time, we received the verse Mark 5:22. In that verse, it talked about Jairus asking Jesus to heal his daughter. Jesus agreed but along the way, Jairus’ daughter died. So Jesus said, do not be struck with fear or seized with alarm, just keep believing. So for us, the words “keep believing” struck a chord because it helped and encouraged us for what we had gone through. It was trying. It was discouraging. But now we can just continue to just believe in Jesus.

 

“So Jesus said, do not be struck with fear or

seized with alarm, just keep believing”

 

From that moment, my husband began to speak to our son in my tummy. He said, “Papa and Mama want you. And you are safe. We will protect you.” I was very moved each time my husband spoke life and protection over our child.  But I still had to find peace for myself for the journey ahead.

 

Some nights I’d wake up, overwhelmed with my anxiety, and unable to go back to sleep. God drew near to meet me in those moments. He gave me a word. He gave me a personal promise through Psalm 84:11. It says, “no good thing will he withhold from those who do what is right.” I knew that God was speaking to me, telling me that it is the right thing to do and for this case it was to keep baby. I began to look forward to my baby’s birth with expectant hope.

 

“God was speaking to me,

telling me that it is the right thing to do… to keep the baby.”

 

The miracle birth

 

When Noah was born on 7 December 2016, he came out crying and screaming. I learnt that the doctors weren’t expecting him to cry or even breathe on his own. But he did!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He was whisked into the ICU for the doctors to check his body, organs and functions immediately. They found that apart from the heart issue that was still there, he didn’t have calcium deficiency. He contracted rotavirus when he was in the ICU but he recovered in a few days. So that gave us a reassuring sign that there was no sign of immune system problems. Basically the doctors found that the rest of his body, organs and functions were all doing well.

 

I was prepared for the multiple surgeries that would come after. The doctors told us to expect that our baby would have to go for open heart surgery before he is 3. He has gone through one open heart surgery when he was only 11 months old. And that was it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Noah is now 2.5 years old. When you see him, he is defying whatever that the doctors had been saying. The doctors said he couldn’t run or play games because of his heart condition. But now he swims. He runs around. He laughs and screams!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“He swims, runs around, laughs and screams!”

 

Noah has a younger sister Zoe, who is 7 months old now. When I was 20 weeks pregnant with Zoe in 2018, the doctors told us again that they saw something different about her heart. They said that she has a right aortic arch. For a normal heart, we have a big vessel going through the left side and it’s called a left aortic arch. So Zoe has something different.

 

At that point in time, we were told by a doctor that our baby had Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) and Velocardiofacial symptom (VCFS) too. We were both very shocked! We were caught unaware. My question to the doctor was “why do you say that? We have not done any testing for it!” But the doctor replied that our first baby had it so the second would too.

 

We rejected those words in Jesus’ name. We did not believe what the doctor said. Today, Zoe is perfectly healthy and well. The doctor said that even though she has a right aortic arch, hers is a perfectly functioning heart.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We want to give God all glory and praise for all the healing that he has done in Noah’s life and still is doing. We look forward to see what kind of young man that God is going to grow him into and the destiny and purpose that God has in store for him.

 

Gaius and Herng Wei, parents to Noah and Zoe, shared this testimony in 2019.

 

Edited by Ms Rachel Yip