COVENTRY, UK, March 19, 2015 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Michelle Moloney of Coventry, UK, was about half way through her second trimester when she experienced the joy of feeling her baby's first kick.
But that joy was replaced with fear and apprehension a few hours later when her water broke just 18 weeks into her pregnancy.
“I felt my baby kick in the early hours. It was such a definite kick – the reassurance that every expectant mum longs for,” Michelle recounted to the Daily Mail. “Just a few hours later, my waters broke. I felt terrified.”
She said that doctors told her the baby could not survive without the surrounding protection of amniotic fluid. They offered to induce labor, which would essentially abort the child, or allow nature to take its course, which normally would result in a miscarriage after the baby died.
“It was absolutely devastating,” Michelle said. “I could feel my baby move. There was no way I could go through with an induction.”
Michelle refused the abortion offer and went home expecting to suffer a miscarriage. But in what she now describes as a miracle, her baby boy, Michael, did not die and her pregnancy continued to progress.
Michael was born at 26 weeks, weighing just 1 pound, 12 ounces. His lungs were not developed enough to enable him to breath on his own.
“Michael had lung damage. It was touch and go in the early days,” Michelle recalled.
Despite being born only two weeks after what the British government classifies as the point of viability outside the womb, baby Michael is now healthy and thriving, and his mom and dad, along with siblings Lily and Patrick, held a party for him last week celebrating his first birthday.
“He's a miracle,” said Michelle. “I'm so thankful we have our little boy.”
Pictures of baby Michael, his family, and his birthday party are available here.