MIAMI – A couple from Utah got the surprise of a lifetime when their baby boy came three months early while they were vacationing on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship.
Chase and Emily Morgan's baby wasn't due until December, but Emily suddenly began having contractions Aug. 31 on the second day of their cruise.
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The ship was 14 hours away from Puerto Rico.
Doctors on board the ship initially told the Morgans that Emily had miscarried.
"About 45 minutes later, the doctors and the nurse walk back in and say, 'He is still alive. He's not breathing very well (and) we don't expect him to live very long,'" Emily Morgan said. "But I wanted to see him, so they took me to the room that he was in."
"I don't think it really hit me that we were going to have a miscarriage or anything -- it's just, I was more trying to focus on Emily and me, making sure that she was going to be emotionally OK," Chase Morgan said.
Haiden Morgan weighed just 1 pound, 8 ounces when he was born.
The Morgans spent two days in Puerto Rico before family and friends in Utah gathered their resources to help the family get a private jet to take them to Nicklaus Children's Hospital, in Miami.
The family is expected to remain in Miami for at least another month until Haiden is strong enough to go home.
The Morgans said Emily's doctor had approved the family to go on the seven-day cruise to celebrate their 3-year-old daughter's birthday.
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