10/17/2026
Recently, Heartbeats supporter Stina Harrop, introduced us to her friend Jessica. We are honored by this opportunity to share Jessica's story.
"On March 19th, at 18 weeks pregnant, my husband and I went to our prenatal checkup for an anatomy scan. During the scan, we were ecstatic to find out we were having a baby girl. We already had two boys, so this was great news to be adding a baby girl to our family.
After the scan, we were in the parking lot ready to leave when we received a call from the doctor. She wanted us to come back up to her office so she could talk to us. This is when we found out they were not able to see all four chambers of our daughter’s heart. She referred us to a larger hospital for a more detailed ultrasound.
During our visit at the other hospital, where they were to confirm her diagnosis of a heart defect, we heard the words “Down syndrome” from a medical professional for the first time.
Once the heart defect had been confirmed, I asked the doctor what this meant for our daughter, Olivia. We had two healthy boys at home and didn’t know anyone who had a child born with a heart defect. We weren't sure if surgery would be able to fix her heart or if she would be born and only able to live for a short period of time.
The doctor replied, “She will need open-heart surgery, but she more than likely has Down syndrome.”
My eyes welled up with tears, and I sat in the hospital room and sobbed. We were just hit with not one, but two obstacles we were going to have to maneuver through. My husband and I were both completely blindsided by this news.
During this time, while we were visibly upset, the doctor dehumanized our daughter. She called her a fetus and made it sound like the easy choice was abortion. Looking back, we expected doctors to have compassion. Instead, she was rude and made us feel Olivia’s life wasn’t worth bringing into this world.
Then they sent in a genetic counselor to go over all of our options. I remember my husband looking the genetic counselor in the eye and telling her, “We want to leave,” once she began talking about abortion.
From that point, we received one or two phone calls a week from the genetic counselor, leaving messages letting us know we needed to make a decision because if we were going to terminate the pregnancy, we only had a certain amount of time left.
I was in such a dark place.
I was raised in the things of God, and I had a relationship with Jesus. I knew our daughter was formed in the image of God. Everything in my heart knew that abortion was wrong, but somehow medical professionals were getting in my head, making me wonder if it was the right choice.
We were sent to confirm her heart defect, and the doctors turned the focus onto Olivia having Down syndrome and painted an awful picture.
My husband told them to stop calling. We were not going to abort our daughter.
He was such a calming part of this journey and told me numerous times, “She’s our baby girl, and we will love her just like we love our boys.”
Twelve years later, with a heart that was repaired at six months old, that is what we are doing...loving her just like our two sons!
Olivia is now in sixth grade and loves going to school to socialize with her friends. Her favorite activities are being on stage dancing at her recitals, coloring, listening to praise and worship music, and playing games!
With a smile that is contagious, she wins over everyone she meets. We truly thank God for her every day. She is a true gift from Him!"
~ Jessica, Olivia’s Mom
