A mother’s instinct is so powerful. After pregnant Sofia took the abortion injection to abort the baby, it was supposed to be silent in her womb but one hour later, she felt the baby kick. When shocked mom complained to the nurses, they just dismissed her and said that
wasn’t possible, only for her to give birth to a live baby and watch him die before her. The grieving mom shares her story with the world, Through The how she had to give birth to her child and watch him wriggle and then die an hour later in her hands because of failed the abortion. 35 year old Sofia Khan, from Bolton, made the heartbreaking decision to terminate her pregnancy in February after learning her boy, who she named Mohammed, had a severe case of spina bifida and was unlikely to survive. Speaking exclusively to Fabulous Online, Sofia recalls feeling her son “wriggle around” hours after she had the lethal injection – but a midwife told her it was “impossible”.
She said: “I think his birth and death were so much more traumatic because I just wasn’t prepared for it – nobody was. Nobody had listened to me when I said I felt him kicking. Nobody believed me.
“And so the shock and the loss I felt were so much more powerful and I don’t think that will ever leave me. I think about my little boy every day.
“I hope in future that midwives will listen to mothers. A mother’s instinct is so powerful.”
Sofia and her husband Shakeel, who have 18-month-old son Mustafa, were delighted to discover she was pregnant in late 2017. But a scan at 20 weeks showed the baby was suffering with spina bifida, when a baby’s spine and spinal cord don’t develop properly in the womb, causing a gap in the spine.
Sofia, recalling the moment she found out her son was ill, said: “I was devastated. I kept thinking that we would manage and that he could have surgery to help him.”
But more scans indicated he also had no knee joints and fluid around his brain. Furthermore, his spina bifida was the worst case consultants had come across and Sofia was told he was unlikely even to survive the pregnancy.
Heartbroken, and following much discussion, the couple decided to abort him.
Sofia said: “We were heartbroken, but we made the decision to terminate. We felt it was best for the baby but even so I had moments of doubt and guilt.” At 25 weeks pregnant in February this year Sofia travelled to St Mary’s Hospital, Manchester, which is part of Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, to terminate the pregnancy.
Abortions are only granted in extraordinary cases for women beyond 24 weeks, as Sofia was, such as when a baby is disabled.
In 2016 only two percent of all abortions took place at such a late stage and it was a difficult procedure for Sofia to undergo.
During the procedure, which typically lasts around three hours, a needle is inserted into a mum’s stomach. The baby’s heartbeat then stops, and the mother has no choice but to deliver the dead foetus.
After having the injection, scans were carried out on Sofia to ensure it had been successful – which medical staff deemed it had been.
Sofia said: “The doctors did two scans which confirmed there was no heartbeat. It was a relief to know his suffering was over but heartbreaking that he was gone.”
With her sister-in-law and husband by her side, Sofia was transferred to her local hospital in Bolton to give birth to the foetus. But, while in hospital, she felt a strange feeling in her stomach.
She said: “As I waited, I felt the baby kick. I told the midwife but she said it was impossible. I asked her to put the monitor on to be sure but she said there was no need.”
en hours later, she gave birth – and was stunned to hear the baby crying.
She says: “I thought I was going mad. I thought I was hearing the cry because that’s what I wanted – my baby to be alive.
“The midwife went into shock. She was screaming for help, she ran with the baby into the corridor.
“They brought him back and said: ‘What do you want us to do?’ and I didn’t know what they meant. I held him and cuddled him and told him how much I loved him.
“He was such a fighter. He had a huge hole in his spine and he was very disabled, and yet he hung on to life for an hour.