Inconceivable: A Medical Mistake, the Baby We Couldn't Keep, and Our Choice to Deliver the Ultimate Gift - Hardcover

Savage, Carolyn; Savage, Sean

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0062004638 ISBN 13: 9780062004635

Publisher: HarperOne, 2011

Synopsis

A medical mistake during an IVF procedure. An unthinkable situation . . . you’re pregnant with the wrong baby. You can terminate, but you can’t keep him. What choice would you make?

Carolyn and Sean Savage had been trying to expand their family for years. When they underwent an IVF transfer in February 2009, they knew it would be their last chance. If they became pregnant, they would celebrate the baby as an answer to their prayers. If not, they would be grateful for the family they had and leave their fertility struggles behind forever.

They never imagined a third option. The pregnancy test was positive, but the clinic had transferred the wrong embryos. Carolyn was pregnant with someone else’s baby.

The Savages faced a series of heartbreaking decisions: terminate the pregnancy, sue for custody, or hand over the infant to his genetic parents upon delivery. Knowing that Carolyn was carrying another couple’s hope for a baby, the Savages wanted to do what they prayed the other family would do for them if the situation was reversed. Sean and Carolyn Savage decided to give the ultimate gift, the gift of life, to a family they didn’t know, no strings attached.

Inconceivable provides an inside look at how modern medicine, which creates miracles daily, could allow such a tragic mistake, and the many legal ramifications that ensued with both the genetic family and the clinic. Chronicling their tumultuous pregnancy and its aftermath, which tested the Savage’s faith, their relationship to their church, and their marriage, Inconceivable is ultimately a testament to love. Carolyn and Sean loved this baby, making it impossible for them to imagine how they could give him life and then give him away.

In the end, Inconceivable is a story of what it is to be a parent, someone who nurtures a life, protects a soul, only to release that child into the world long before you’re ready to let him go.

About this title

About the Author

Carolyn And Sean Savage's story was covered widely when they gave birth to the baby boy in September 2009, including in People magazine and on The Today Show. In this book they are telling the entire story for the very first time. Sean and Carolyn live in Ohio with their two teenage sons and two-year-old daughter.

From the Back Cover

A medical mistake during an IVF procedure. An unthinkable situation . . . you’re pregnant with the wrong baby. You can terminate, but you can’t keep him. What choice would you make?

Carolyn and Sean Savage had been trying to expand their family for years. When they underwent an IVF transfer in February 2009, they knew it would be their last chance. If they became pregnant, they would celebrate the baby as an answer to their prayers. If not, they would be grateful for the family they had and leave their fertility struggles behind forever.

They never imagined a third option. The pregnancy test was positive, but the clinic had transferred the wrong embryos. Carolyn was pregnant with someone else’s baby.

The Savages faced a series of heartbreaking decisions: terminate the pregnancy, sue for custody, or hand over the infant to his genetic parents upon delivery. Knowing that Carolyn was carrying another couple’s hope for a baby, the Savages wanted to do what they prayed the other family would do for them if the situation was reversed. Sean and Carolyn Savage decided to give the ultimate gift, the gift of life, to a family they didn’t know, no strings attached.

Inconceivable provides an inside look at how modern medicine, which creates miracles daily, could allow such a tragic mistake, and the many legal ramifications that ensued with both the genetic family and the clinic. Chronicling their tumultuous pregnancy and its aftermath, which tested the Savage’s faith, their relationship to their church, and their marriage, Inconceivable is ultimately a testament to love. Carolyn and Sean loved this baby, making it impossible for them to imagine how they could give him life and then give him away.

In the end, Inconceivable is a story of what it is to be a parent, someone who nurtures a life, protects a soul, only to release that child into the world long before you’re ready to let him go.

Reviews

After a mistake at her infertility clinic, Carolyn Savage learned she was carrying another couple’s baby. In this memoir that belongs at the top of any truth-is-stranger-than-fiction list, she and her husband tell the tale of why they decided to go through with the pregnancy and deliver a healthy boy to the biological parents. (Basically, it’s because of their religious beliefs.) The book, which shifts between Carolyn’s and Sean’s perspectives, would have been better had biological parents Shannon and Paul Morell contributed, too. From the beginning, Carolyn seems to resent Shannon for not being sufficiently appreciative, and even after she says she is giving up baby Logan with no strings attached, she is peeved that Shannon sends her the same birth announcement “in the same way that she had announced him to her extended family and distant friends.” Ultimately, the Morells bring Logan to meet the Savages, but it’s unclear how often they will see each other. The story is compelling and well told, although the Savages come across as martyrs more than saints. --Karen Springen

Edition details

• Publisher: HarperOne
• Publication date: 2011
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0062004638
• ISBN 13: 9780062004635
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 304