A grieving mother has released this poignant picture of her daughter crying moments after being born at 24 weeks.

Emily Caines wants to show how developed her baby was at this stage of pregnancy – the legal limit for abortions in Britain.

Adelaide survived for only about an hour after she was delivered by doctors who tried in vain to keep her alive.

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Emily Caines, 25, from Yeovil in Somerset has released a photograph of the moment her premature daughter Adelaide was born as she hopes to break the taboo over talking about baby loss

Mrs Caines, who previously lost two daughters, underwent IVF treatment and is now pregnant. She calls her son, who is due in January 2015, her 'rainbow child' because rainbows appear after the storm

This is Mrs Caines’ only picture of her daughter, and was taken by one of the medics before the infant died.

She and her husband Alastair, a security guard, think the legal limit of 24 weeks for an abortion should be lowered.

‘Our picture shows Adelaide was not a foetus,’ said Mrs Caines, 35, from Yeovil, Somerset. ‘She was a fully formed human being, and to think that a baby like her could be legally terminated is to me horrifying.’

She added: ‘Our hospital was amazing but Adelaide suffered complications which made it impossible for her to survive.

‘But many babies born at 24 weeks do live. That makes a mockery of the 24-week legal limit.

‘Our daughter may not have lived long but she was still our daughter and we love to talk about her and celebrate her life.’

Emily and Alastair Caines fell in love in the agonising weeks after Mrs Caines lost her first daughter Isabelle

Mrs Caines, who also lost her first baby, at 23 weeks, continued: ‘I find it hurtful when people use the term late miscarriage to describe our daughter because she was born so early into my pregnancy. I think this picture of her crying out shows that clearly that is not the case.

‘I went through labour and delivery with both of my premature babies.

‘My first daughter was born at 23 weeks and classed as a late miscarriage. Adelaide was born at 24 weeks and classed as neo-natal death but they looked exactly the same. Neither were a miscarriage.

‘Adelaide lived for more than an hour and will always be very much part of our lives.

‘I hope this beautiful picture of my daughter being born helps change people’s perspectives.’

Medical advances mean significant numbers of premature babies are surviving being born at just 23 weeks into a pregnancy.

The couple's daughter Adelaide was born at just 24 weeks old, but unfortunately doctors told Mr and Mrs Caines they couldn't get a line in to help her breathe

On their wedding day Mrs Caines said she woke up, put on a bracelet to remember her deceased daughter, and then pulled on her wedding dress to get married

Research shows many British specialist neo-natal units have vastly improved on survival rates. Data from 25 hospitals over the past four years shows that 120 babies born at 23 weeks survived.

Around 560 babies are aborted at 23 weeks every year.

Mrs Caines, who works in customer services, married her 29-year-old husband on the anniversary of the birth and death of her first child, Isabelle.

Adelaide was conceived through IVF and her parents were relieved to reach the 24-week stage, when medics are legally obliged to help save the life of a premature baby.

Mrs Caines said: ‘Only then did I buy her a baby-grow and Alistair bought her a pink cuddly bunny.’

Mr and Mrs Caines married on September 8th 2012 in a villa in Portugal. This day was the anniversary of Mrs Caines' first daughter Isabella's birth and death

The Caines family and their friends have now raised more than £4,000 for the stillbirth and neonatal death charity Sands

TWINS SURVIVED AT 23 WEEKS Wide-eyed and curious, these twin boys had a dramatic start in life when their mother gave birth at just 23 weeks. One-year-olds Jake and Kyle were barely the size of a hand when they were born on September 21 last year, weighing 1lb 6oz and 1lb 7oz. Their skin was so weak their parents Nichola Baird, 30, and her partner Colin, 42, couldn’t even touch them for nine days, and both needed heart surgery. Miss Baird, of South Tyneside, said she felt her sons were ‘treated like foetuses’, but despite dire predictions they were eventually allowed to be taken home on their exact due date. Advertisement

But only three days later Mrs Caines started to bleed and was taken to the specialist premature baby unit at Southmead Hospital in Bristol.

In December 2013 she had an emergency caesarean section.

Her husband stayed by her side as their tiny daughter let out a cry as she was delivered by doctors.

It was at that moment a doctor took the only picture of Adelaide alive on the couple’s camera.

Mrs Caines said: ‘That cry filled us with so much hope. Her little fists were waving and I could see the doctors working on her.’

But an hour later doctors told the couple that it was proving impossible to get a line into their daughter’s lungs to help her breathe. They agreed that the kindest thing they could do would be to let her go.

Mrs Caines, who is raising money for the stillbirth and neonatal charity Sands, is now 20 weeks pregnant with a son following another round of IVF.

She said: ‘I hope sharing our story gives hope to others and helps other parents who have suffered a loss.’