I honestly believe that every baby, every new human life born, is a miracle. However, not every baby is a miracle baby, so to speak. Almost all of us know someone who started out life in a “touch-and-go” situation and survived, my cousin Anna is one such miracle baby who was born with a hole in her diaphragm. Had an intuitive doctor not diagnosed her rare condition soon after birth and ordered emergency surgery, she would not have made it past a few days old. Thanks to modern technology, we now often know about life-threatening or terminal diagnoses while babies are still in their mother’s wombs. While this can sometimes help doctors to come up with a treatment plan or even do surgery in utero, it can also sometimes help them prepare moms and dads to meet and lose their baby on the same do.
Such was the case, or so it seemed, for Iowa parents Drew and Ariann Corpstein and their unborn son. Fox News told the story of how the Corpstein’s learned at 23 weeks gestation that their firstborn (they had previously suffered a miscarriage) had a terminal brain condition. They were told he would not survive because his brain tissue would not develop, and were given the option to terminate the pregnancy or have labor induced to end the pregnancy.
But Drew and Ariann, who are Christians, decided that their baby boy’s fate was “in God’s hands,” and they continued on with the pregnancy. On their GoFundMe page , Drew explained the baby’s dire situation.
“During our 20-week ultrasound, which led to several others and a MRI quickly following, the doctors discovered our baby was missing most of his/her brain,” he said. “And instead of a brain, it was replaced with cerebral spinal fluid. The fluid was going to continue to expand the head of our baby. The head size was measuring about 3 weeks ahead of normal. We were told our baby wouldn’t live past several days, if not hours, or die before birth.”
Speaking to the Des Moines Register, Ariann Corpstein said, We knew that our baby was probably not going to be born alive. Whatever happens, it’s in God’s hands.”
No matter the outcome, that statement is true. This I believe. But when Matthew James Corpstein arrived at 37 weeks, he quickly proved himself to be a miracle baby.
