FORT WALTON BEACH, Fla. Abigail Lynn Fisher could be living with her adoptive family in Georgia right now.
Instead, she’s curled up in her mother’s arms crying for a bottle.
It’s not the scenario Christina Fisher planned when she found out she was pregnant last year.
The 36-year-old Fort Walton Beach woman had already raised one child and wasn’t prepared to raise another. So she made the tough decision to find a loving home for her child.
But when Abigail was born on Jan. 11, her adoptive mom fled the hospital after seeing the newborn‘s deformities. She never came back.
“I took it as a sign that she was supposed to be mine,” she said. “And now, she is my heart ...”
“Without her I would cease to exist.”
‘I’ve been very fortunate’
Christina was living at Playground RV and found herself “basically homeless” toward the end of her pregnancy when the park closed.
Fischer and Abigail’s father were not in a relationship when she got pregnant. She had thought she was done with babies and little kids.
Her daughter, Debra, is 18 and finishing high school in Louisiana, where Christina’s family lives.
“Í wasn’t ready to start again,” Christina said.
Opposed to abortion, she decided to give the baby up for adoption. Through an agency, she was paired with the family in Georgia. She talked to them weekly and sent them photos of the ultrasounds.
The prenatal tests were normal.
“Nothing was detected, they just told me her ears looked a little small,” she recalled of the prenatal testing.
On Jan. 6, Christina was admitted into Sacred Heart Hospital for pre-eclampsia. She called the family who arrived a day later and stayed until Abigail was born on Jan. 11.
“I let her (adoptive mom) take the other wristband into the NICU,” Christina said. “She came out crying, looked at Debra and left the hospital. We never heard from them again.”