A mom of three mistakenly told by her doctor that her eight-week pregnancy was “just an empty sac” trusted her gut instinct, refused an abortion, and sought a second opinion—a decision that saved her unborn baby’s life.
Las Vegas-born Vanessa Duran, 39, is a wardrobe stylist who has been married to her high school sweetheart, jewelry designer Peter Monette, since 2006. The couple lives just outside Austin, Texas, with their three children. Ms. Duran is in the final trimester of her pregnancy, carrying her fourth child.
“I’m willing to have my baby no matter what. I have strong faith, and God has put life into me,” she told The Epoch Times. “So it’s definitely your relationship with your Creator, viewing it as life that’s inside of you and not making any drastic decisions that could harm that life.”
With her first three children, Ms. Duran confirmed her pregnancies at around the eight-week mark. This time around, she says, she “felt pregnant right away” and took a dollar store pregnancy test before calling her trusted doctor for an appointment in mid-July last year, at eight weeks pregnant. She did not receive the response she expected.
Ms. Duran said her doctor used a wand to perform an ultrasound for “five to 10 seconds” and told her there was nothing there.
“He said, ‘I’m sorry, it’s empty. There’s no fetal pole, and there was just an empty sac,” she said. “I think he just saw my maternal age, thinking, ’Oh, it’s already gone.‘ ... and I just kind of thought to myself, ’That’s weird.‘ I even said, ’I feel very pregnant,‘ and he said, ’You’re going to feel that way in your body because you still have some of the cells. ... you’re going to have a miscarriage.'”
The doctor offered a dilation and curettage (D&C) procedure to remove the empty sac from her uterus, but Ms. Duran insisted that she would allow any potential miscarriage to occur naturally.
‘I Knew It All Along. I’m Not Crazy’
Ms. Duran says she doesn’t speculate on her doctor’s intentions but does believe that some doctors are rushing to offer D&C procedures and C-sections for monetary incentives, and, despite there being many good doctors, there may be an anti-life—pro-choice—agenda in some areas of the country “more so than others.”She made another appointment at the clinic for 10 days time, and staff advised her to call in the meantime if she began bleeding heavily. But she never did bleed, and she never did call. Instead, she sought a second opinion at a “warmer” clinic on Aug. 16 last year, at almost 11 weeks pregnant.
“I saw the baby right away, and the baby was huge,” she said. “I was measuring right on time, so this suspicion that we thought maybe I was behind was gone. It was one of those moments, like, ‘I knew it all along. I’m not crazy!’”
Ms. Duran called her mother—who gave birth to all 12 of her children naturally—and her mother advised her to “give time, keep busy, and all will work out.” She turned to prenatal vitamins to nurture her growing baby and trusted in her pregnancy, attending her 23-week anatomy scan with some reluctance.
Tips for Pregnant Moms
At the time of writing, Mrs. Duran is 30 weeks pregnant and “doing good,” despite being told by doctors on Nov. 13 last year, that her placenta may have attached to scar tissue from a previous cesarean section. She now believes that expectant mothers should avoid scheduling C-sections if they have the choice and attributes the prevalence of this procedure to pressure from doctors.“All of my children were born C-section, and that was because my first doctor induced me ... I believe too early so my body wasn’t ready. I think I was just so young that I allowed it,” Ms. Duran said.
“One thing I want to stress to people that are having babies for the first time: You can have your baby naturally. Do not schedule a C-section, because there are so many things that they don’t tell you. If you’re wanting to have more than one child, that can happen down the road ... where your scar tissue will attach to the placenta.”
The mom of four suggests that any expectant mom should wait until the pregnancy reaches 10 weeks before scheduling their first appointment, to delimit the chance of their doctor misdiagnosing a non-viable pregnancy. She also advocates for home birth, if conditions permit.
“I just think that the hospital business ... even how much they charge you to have a baby is just crazy expensive,” she said. “You can do it at your home, feel comfortable that the baby’s born into a really calm, safe environment, and that’s what we’re meant to do. We’re meant to have babies, women are.”
