On Tuesday, September 1, 2015, Emily Morgan who runs a gymnastic and cheerleading center and Chase Morgan who is a Costco forklift operator, along with their 3-year-old daughter Chloe were on a seven-day Caribbean cruise aboard Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines Independence Of The Seas when Emily, 28, who was pregnant, suddenly went into labor. Emily's due date was December 18, so her doctors cleared her for the trip.



The second night into the cruise, at sea, Emily Dimick Morgan, from Ogden, Utah, went into labor with the labor pains increasing. Thirty minutes later, the baby boy arrived 109 days early. The baby boy was named Haiden Morgan, a "micro-preemie and he weighed only one pound, eight ounces at birth and was only 13 inches long.



The captain sped towards their first port call at San Juan, Puerto Rico, arriving two hour early while the medical team kept the baby warm and stabilized. Doctors say that two hours probably saved Haiden's life.



Independence Of The Seas embarked Sunday August 30, 2015 from Fort Lauderdale, Florida on a seven-day Eastern Caribbean Cruise with calls at San Juan, Puerto Rico then Philipsburg, St. Maarten before continuing onto Basseterre, St. Kitts.



"Royal Caribbean has really been great in keeping in touch after we got into Puerto Rico, making sure that everything was running smoothly," Chase Morgan said. "They even sent translators with us when we first got into Puerto Rico."



Royal Caribbean said, "The guest gave birth to a baby boy in the ship's medical facility," the company said. "In order to provide mother and child with additional and urgent medical attention, the ship altered its course and sailed full speed to the closest port of call, San Juan, Puerto, Rico. While in route to San Juan, the ship's medical team worked tirelessly to provide medical care to both mother and child. We wish our guest and her baby much health and happiness."



From San Juan, days later, Haiden was flown to Nicklaus Children's Hospital in Miami, where he will stay until his condition improves. He then will be flown back to Utah to a children's hospital until mid-December, his original due date. Photos in the San Juan, Puerto Rico Cruise Port Views.



The family apparently didn't add travel insurance for their cruise. Now, as the outcome has indicated, cruising without travel insurance with a pregnant woman and a preschool age child was not a good idea. They are relying on the kindness of others. The family has a Go-fund Me page called, Haiden's Medical Journey with a goal of $10,000. As of September 23, 2015 the family had raised $350. An update on September 23 stated, "Chase and I are both overwhelmed with all the support and generosity that everyone has given us. We originally set a random goal of $10k, and would never have thought that we would ever reach this goal. We know that the medical expenses are going to far exceed the original goal, and from the advice of many other s we are slightly raising the goal. We are forever grateful for everyones' prayers, thoughts and donations. We will be keeping everyone updated with Haiden's progress and journey in the coming future."





As of September 25, the donations had increased to $5,040. Later on September 25, the family raised the goal to $30,000 and had $23,147 in donations. The next morning, the goal had almost been met with $28,930 coming from 631 donors. www.gofundme.com/bg4ucsps



Later on September 26, the goal amount was raised again, this time to $37,000 ,with total donations by 710 donors reaching $33,083. www.gofundme.com/bg4ucsps



Early on September 27, donations had slowed way down to $34,051 from 740 donors. www.gofundme.com/bg4ucsps. Lunch time on September 27, donations were at $34,466 by 757 donors and this was posted to their GoFundMe page.



September 28, 0900 hours the goal is almost met $36,246 from 779 donors, less than $800 away. www.gofundme.com/bg4ucsps. "Haiden is doing very well today, we had a little bit of a rollercoaster yesterday. He was able to pull through and is now stable again. We are able to remain strong through everyones' encouraging words and prayers. Haiden is a true fighter and continues to amaze us everyday. His weight is currently at 1lb 15oz., slowly but surely he is gaining weight. We are so humbled by all the emails,notes, and donations that we have received, and know that we have been reading all of them and are truly touched by everyones' kindness. One of the larger expenses that we are dealing with at this time is a car rental, we wanted to see if anyone had a connection to get better pricing on a rental, as we are going to be here for a minimum of 30+ days.



December 13, 2015, 0900 hours the goal is $49,725 of $100k, Raised by 1,084 people in 2 months. From update #12 on December 2 - "Haiden is 3 months old today!!"



Haiden has been doing very well he did have a set back this last week due to having to have emergency eye surgery. Haiden had stage 3 in his eyes which means his nerves weren't developing around the eye and could lead to blindness. So they felt he needed to have the surgery right away to help stop the negative progression. Haiden did very well during the surgery, he is having some issues with bottle eating now since he had to be intubated. Hoping the swelling goes down quickly so he can feel comfortable eating from the bottle again and not be in pain. Our little fighter is still going strong and is growing everyday. We could use some extra prayers, so that he can push through this little set back so he can still be home by Christmas!



Happy Holidays

Love

The Morgan's





Supporting Information & Resources:

Cruise Ship Babies - Born At Sea



Cruise Ship Babies Born At Sea - Suggested Reading



Featured or New Cruise Ship Illness



Cruise Bruise Investigations - Cruise Ship Illness



This is the second time in modern history a baby born at sea on a cruise ship made headlines. The first baby, Baby Doe was a story that ended very tragically.