Thaindian News

July 6 (THAINDIAN NEWS) At 36 years old, Stacey Herald, of Kentucky is the world’s smallest mother at only 2 feet 4 inches tall, but although she was warned by doctors that becoming pregnant could kill her since the baby could become large enough to crush her lungs and heart, she has given birth to three babies so far and insists that she wants more.

Stacey and her husband Will, a twenty seven year old trainee vicar who stands 5 feet 9 inches have already had two children when she gave birth to this one by rare vertical Cesarean section back in November. The baby, Malachi was not allowed to go home until last month because of many setbacks which almost took his life.

“Malachi was born without any broken bones,” said his mom. “People with our condition are often born with broken arms and legs because our bones are fragile and can be damaged by the birth.” He was only 5 inches, and weighed 2 pounds 1 oz at birth, and had to be placed in an incubator in intensive care.

When he was 17 days old, he became seriously sick with a virus, and when he was four weeks old he suffered a life threatening hernia and had emergency surgery. “At one point they told us his heart had stopped and we thought he might not survive,” Stacey said “But thankfully the doctors managed to save him. It felt like a miracle to us.”

His mother, Stacey has a rare condition, which is genetic, called Osteogenisis Imperfecta. This causes her bones to become brittle, and be easily broken, and her growth to be stunted. For this reason doctors have advised against her having children, yet she stated, “We listen to doctors and respect them, but they don’t always get it right, so we end up doing what we feel is best.”

Two of her children were born with her condition, the baby, Malachi, and the oldest, 3 year old Kateri. Their two year old, Makya did not inherit her mother’s condition. Since she is already a foot taller than her mother at two years old, it is a struggle for Stacey, “I can’t physically stop Makya if she’s upset,” she explains. “She’s too big for me now, so Will has to take care of that.”

But even with two kids being born with her condition, which could be life threatening, and the third child outgrowing her mother at two years old, Stacey and Will Herald still want to bring more children into the world. She said: “Three children is a handful at the moment, but I can see us having more babies in the future. I’ll have more children.”