Abilene couple prepares to say goodbye to unborn son with rare disorder

ABILENE, Texas (KTAB/KRBC) – A young couple from Abilene is preparing to welcome their unborn son, but they must say goodbye as soon as the baby is born.

Mom, Zoey West, explains she was excited and overjoyed to be pregnant and to start a family with her boyfriend of three years, Colby Breeding. The pair has known each other since they were preteens, and West remembers the moment she saw the positive pregnancy test.

“I was scared at first, just like the thought was scary. But I was I was excited. I immediately started looking at baby shower stuff. Well, it’s like how long until you find out the gender so we could do, you know, baby shower gender, reveal things like that,” explained West.

Things took a turn on March 1, the day before their gender reveal party. The pair and their families spent the day cleaning and preparing the house for the party. All of a sudden, West started to feel extreme cramping.

“I just got like these really weird, intense cramps, but I feel like I’m on my period. That’s so odd, and so I was like, I have to go to the bathroom. So I went to the bathroom and that’s when I like found bleeding and things like that. I was just in panic mode,” said West.

Upon arrival at the emergency room, the pair was told there was something unusual and later transferred to Cooks Children. West’s mother was the gender keeper and told the pair they could cancel the party and let them know their baby was a boy—the couple chose the name Montana.

“Then, Dr. Dunn at the Cooks here in Abilene, she was the one who told us about the Chaos Disorder because she could kind of see more in the larynx slash his heart,” added West.

Her baby was diagnosed with Congenital High Airway Obstruction Syndrome (CHAOS), a rare condition where the fetal airway is wholly or partly blocked. Upon further testing and another transfer to Cooks Children’s Hospital in Fort Worth, the doctors did an MRI and found additional birth defects.

“They did the MRI, which that’s how they saw that he didn’t have kidneys. They saw his little feet and just the CHAOS again. They did like a supersonic ultrasound of his heart. So, his heart is okay. It’s just the pressure of his lungs, and the pressure of everything will eventually either stop his heart, or if I do make it full term because of the CHAOS, he won’t be able to, like, get a breath. So he will pass after delivery,” shared West.

West created a GoFundMe to help with unexpected medical expenses. If you would like to help, visit here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-for-zoey-colby-and-baby-montana

Now, at almost 21 weeks pregnant, West explains that it has been a lonely and challenging few weeks. She has the support of her boyfriend Colby, who is working full-time in Midland to support his family. She also has support from their families and friends. But West shares that being in public is a challenge.

“I obviously can’t, like, hide the bump, but when I go out in public, people are like, ‘oh, that’s so exciting. Is it a boy? You’re going to love it.’ Then I just have to smile because I don’t want to bring you down. I don’t want to sit here and be like, actually, it’s not going to be fun. But I just smile and say, thank you,” shared West.

West adds she was not offered an abortion as her life is not in danger. But if she was offered one, West said she would have declined.

“So with the Texas law, how they do those is if it was if it was threatening me, like if it was making me sick or ill, I could have had that option, which given the option, I personally couldn’t and wouldn’t even though I am pro all those things, I personally cant,” shared West.

Through her grief, West said she has found comfort even in places she didn’t expect when she shared her story on social media.

“I’ve gotten a lot of support just from sharing my story. People have reached out to me and have just been really sweet, sharing things that happened with them to similar situations like with childbirth. One in four women go through this, you know, or not necessarily through this. Exactly, but it’s one in four women go through a miscarriage like it’s such a taboo subject, but it’s an extremely common thing,” added West.

She hopes sharing her story can spark a larger conversation about motherhood and grief.

“I feel like people just don’t talk about it because like, oh, it’s a mood killer. But no, it’s not. It’s your baby. It’s okay to talk about. I love people reaching out to me and sharing their story because I’m like, a miscarriage is like your mourning. Someone that only you knew. So it feels very isolating sometimes. I just like having people reach out. Because I’m glad that you get to talk about them again, that makes me not feel so like it’s like the world is literally ending,” shared West.