Baby born at 18 weeks. When the mother put him on her chest, she was shocked. At 18 weeks of age, the majority of babies are only beginning to show signs of development. Thus, they are only around the size of a prune in length, measuring approximately two inches from the top of the head to the rump. This indicates that they’re not yet ready to be born.
If they do come out, it will only be a sign of impending doom. Unfortunately, it was around this time period that one baby, Jackson, was born prematurely. When his mother took his tiny, delicate body in her arms, she was taken aback by what she witnessed next.
Charity and Tanner awoke in the middle of the night, terrified that something terrible had happened to her. She was beginning to experience contractions, which were becoming more frequent and painful. As the days went by, her heart sank as she realized that her beloved baby, who was only 18 weeks pregnant, was on the verge of being born but would be born far too soon for her to save him.
The 30-year-old married mother of two awoke her husband, Matt, in the middle of the night and told him she needed to get to the hospital immediately. The parents didn’t have anyone who could come over on such short notice to monitor their sleeping children, so they turned to friends and family. Despite still being in their jammies, Matt roused eight-year-old Ryan and his five-year-old sister Kaley and put them into the car as swiftly as possible. They were now driving at a high rate of speed on their way to the hospital.
The sequence of circumstances that had led them to this unanticipated and unplanned moment flashed across Charity’s head in between painful contractions and nauseating vomiting. In March , she and Matt had happily announced to their children the addition of a new family member, which had happened only two months before. To help their children understand what was going on, the parents had given them a gift package filled with baby socks, swaddling blankets, and an ultrasound photo framed with the instructions to guess what the item represented. Ryan described the occurrence as “baby stuff” in a video Charity captured of it.
“Are you expecting a child?” he inquired, a grin on his face and his brows raised in anticipation. After a month, the bleeding began to occur. “I was bleeding non-stop for the better part of an hour. It was simply becoming bigger and heavier as the days went by,” Charity revealed in an exclusive phone interview with LifeSiteNews.
Charity was diagnosed with placenta previa, a pregnancy problem in which her baby’s placenta had joined to the wrong spot in her uterus, obstructing her cervix. Doctors determined that Charity had a healthy pregnancy. In many cases, situations, the condition would resolve on its own, but in the worst-case scenario, they would have to perform an emergency cesarean surgery once the baby had reached at least 24 weeks of gestation, at which point the infant would have a decent chance of survival. The hemorrhage, on the other hand, just continued to worsen.
Jackson’s little fingers, his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth were all completely developed, as were his other body parts, including his teeth, according to her. “The physicians were baffled as to why I continued bleeding and bleeding and bleeding,” during a visit to her obstetrics clinic, Charity was informed by a doctor she had never met before that one option for stopping the bleeding would be to terminate the pregnancy.
“He informed me that they had seen this type of event before and that I could either continue bleeding and risk having anything happen to me or I could choose to terminate the pregnancy,” in her memory, Charity recalls being taken aback by how casually the choice of having her child killed had been presented to her.
“No, that isn’t even an option for my husband and me,” she explains, laughing. “There was absolutely nothing wrong with this little one. He was a model of perfection. He was absolutely flawlessly and exquisitely shaped in every way,” the woman declared. “I was going to do all in my ability to keep him alive,” Charity recalled thinking at the time that abortion was simply not a decision that she felt she had the right to make for herself. “It had its own life, its own beating heart. It was alive and it possessed that ability to grow. Take all of that away was not something I was able to do,” she explained.
In the years leading up to the conception of this child, Charity and Matt had intense aspirations of having a young boy who would offer something special to their family. So when they found out that they were expecting, they were both positive they were having a boy, and they were right.
The automobile had arrived at the hospital by this time. Charity, who was unable to walk owing to excruciating pain, was helped into a wheelchair by Matt. Nurses and a doctor took care of her as soon as she was taken into the room. An ultrasound revealed that the baby had already descended and was in the process of being delivered.
Charity recalls a doctor telling her that she needed to push. The woman explained that she did not want to force him since she only wanted him to be okay, what she understood as meaning that he would have to stay inside of her. Nature, on the other hand, took its course, and within moments, a little vulnerable baby was delivered still encased in his protective amniotic sac.
Every person in the room assumed that the baby had been delivered dead because an ultrasound performed prior to birth had only barely detected the presence of a heartbeat. After the birth, a nurse removed the remnants and opened the amniotic sac, allowing the baby to be seen for the first time. She inquired as to if Charity and Matt were interested in seeing the body. They claimed to have done so.
The parents were filled with the deepest of sorrows as they looked down at the perfectly formed body of their tiny baby. His fingers and toes were extremely little, his ears, nose, and mouth were all wonderfully formed, as were his eyes and ears. They were able to determine that he was, in fact, a boy. Throughout his practically transparent body, little crimson veins could be seen going throughout it. His skin was so moist and sensitive that it began to stick to the blanket in which he was being wrapped, indicating that he was in distress.
A nurse arrived and placed him on a piece of plastic to help keep his skin protected. As the parents cradled their son’s body and marveled at his distinctive characteristics, they were startled to notice that his chest was rising and falling and that his little heart was pumping within his body. A nurse informed them that it was most likely merely electrical impulses that were causing the problem. Charity and Matt, on the other hand, sensed a presence and recognized these as signs of life. They were so taken aback by what they witnessed that they decided to record it on film.
In Charity’s opinion, God provided her family just a few precious moments to be together with their living son so that they could say hello to him and tell him farewell until they were reunited again. They were all well aware that their time with him would be limited. “At first, it was just Matt and me taking care of the child. As a result, we had a brief encounter with him.
It was perhaps the most difficult moment for me to witness my husband with him because I adore my husband and he had expressed a strong wish to have this child. I really wanted to be able to deliver it to him,” Charity recalled her desire to do so.
Matt went to Ryan and Kaylee, who were waiting in a nearby waiting area and were being cared for by nurses, to inform them that the baby had been born and that he arrived too soon to survive for an extended period of time. “He informed me later that when he said this, their jaw simply fell open,” Charity recalled the incident. The kids rushed into the delivery room, excited to see their little brother but also devastated to realize that they had come to say goodbye.
“This tiny guy was held carefully and softly caressed with soft, beautiful kisses by his family for around a half an hour. It was a really pleasant experience because, at the very least, we were able to be together as a family with our little boy for that brief period of time,” Charity said. “This was something very exceptional that we’ll remember for a long time.” He was given the name Jackson.
There was obviously an overwhelming sense of loss at the time, but looking back, I’m so grateful that my children were present and were able to see it embrace their brother. “Jackson is a real person in their eyes. They still converse about him on a regular basis. He’s still their little brother, even if he didn’t make it,” she remarked, referring to the siblings’ relationship.
In a white gown that Charity had fashioned especially for him, Jackson was laid to rest. At some point, the indications of life began to slip away. When the young boy’s chest became completely motionless, he and his family were reunited in the hospital for a few hours before his remains were transported to a funeral home for preparations for burial. Charity, with the assistance of a friend, created a small white costume for him, which he wore to his burial a few days after his death.
“Love and respect” are two words that come to mind. Charity and Matt, both of whom are Christians, are hopeful that they will see Jackson once more. According to them, he is in paradise with God, waiting for the day when they will all be reunited once more. “I constantly tell the kids that he’s keeping an eye on them,” says the mother. “Our faith assures us that we will be all reunited with him at some point in the future. We think that our family will be able to spend eternity with one another in paradise,” Charity shared her thoughts.
Despite the grief that accompanied Jackson’s birth, death, and burial, Charity shared that the family experienced some surprisingly happier moments over those same days. Approximately one week after her passing, Ryan approached her and inquired, “Mom, you’re going to be able to see Jackson before we do, aren’t you?” She replied affirmatively.
Matt and little Ryan carry the casket containing Jackson’s tiny body to the cemetery where he will be laid to rest. “I definitely hope I get to see him before you do,” she said, tears in her eyes as she replied, “I couldn’t bear the thought for another one of you precious children passing away.”
The Tanner’s grief was still raw when just weeks later undercover videos revealed that Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider, was involved in the illegal harvesting and sale of body parts from babies. Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider, was found to be involved in the illegal harvesting and sale of baby body parts. Some of the unborn victims who were terminated by abortionists at Planned Parenthood would have been the same gestational age as Jackson, if not older. In one video, graphic footage shows staff removing perfectly formed organs from an aborted twin who was 20 weeks old at the time of the filming.
Charity believes that the photographs and video of her 18-week-old son will help to put a face to the countless babies who have been aborted at that age and who have been the victims of brutality and barbarity in the eyes of the public.
I want to be able to demonstrate to others that even at 18 weeks of age, a pre-born baby is very much alive and very much a whole person,” says the researcher. “I want people to understand that even when they are the tiniest little newborns like Jackson, they are genuine living breathing beings who are lovely and who deserve all of our love and respect,” she says. “They’re just as much of a human as anyone else,” she stated emphatically. “
