Florida

Miracle Cruise Ship Baby Still Recovering in Miami

A baby boy that beat the odds to stay alive after he was born three months early aboard a cruise ship continued his recovery at a Miami hospital Friday.

Chase and Emily Morgan, of Ogden, Utah, were on a seven-day Caribbean vacation when little Haiden was born on the open seas weighing 1 pound, 8 ounces.

"Everyone is saying that it's a miracle and it is. He's extremely small but he's in a very good place right now," Chase said at Nicklaus Children's Hospital Friday.

Haiden was born at just 23 weeks as the couple were on a Royal Caribbean Cruise for their 3-year-old daughter's birthday. Emily was six months pregnant and her due date wasn't until Dec. 19.

"We got on board, we enjoyed some delicious food, walked around the boat and then that night, the second night I went into labor," Emily said.

Morgan said she felt intense labor pains on the open waters between Florida and Puerto Rico.

"They looked at me and said 'you know we're not porting for another 14 hours like, you can't have this baby on this ship,'" she said. "I knew that the baby was coming so I just said, 'I gotta push. I can tell this is the real thing.'"

Doctors first told her that she had a miscarriage but then they rushed back saying the little boy was still breathing, clinging to life.

"Anytime that somebody says that you're not gonna have a baby it's definitely devastating to experience and to feel that's something that I'll always remember," she said.

There were no incubators on the ship so they wrapped the newborn in towels. The ship's captain rushed and got to Puerto Rico hours ahead of schedule.

"I really think that that's probably what saved his life," Emily Morgan said.

After three days at a hospital in Puerto Rico, Haiden was airlifted to Miami. The family is staying at the intensive care unit at Nicklaus Children's Hospital until Haiden gets stronger.

"He definitely is an inspiration to us. We can touch his little hands and we try to...he has good reflexes so he'll sometimes hold our fingers," Emily Morgan said.

Little Haiden is in stable condition but there have been a lot of medical expenses. The family has set up a GoFundMe page and so far they have received an outpouring of support and are keeping positive about Haiden's future.

The family plans to head back to Utah sometime in October.

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