'Miracle baby' shows parents that life can be magical -- even amid darkness

More than five years have passed since Shona Moeller, her husband, Bob Conlin, and their unborn son captured the hearts of people around the world when she was hospitalized for nine-plus weeks at UChicago Medicine AdventHealth Hinsdale because her water had broken prematurely, putting her life – and their son’s – at risk.

Today, the whirlwind media coverage of their story, including their creative efforts to stay connected through socially distanced dinner dates amid the COVID-19 pandemic, has long since subsided, and Moeller and Conlin are the proud and grateful parents of a 5-year-old boy named Forest, whom they call “a miracle baby.”

“We’re just living the day-to-day of being normal parents raising a kid,” Conlin said. “But every once in a while, we’re just reminded of the magic of what this child is.”

The couple’s journey has been replete with challenges since Forest was born about seven weeks premature on June 20, 2020, beating his survival odds of less than 1%. But the love and support they received during that difficult period, the perspective they gained from the experience, and their son’s strength and resilience, have sustained them, drawing them closer together and tightening the bonds among their family members.

Creating beautiful moments

Moeller entered the hospital (known then as AMITA Health Adventist Medical Center Hinsdale) in mid-April 2020, about a month after the pandemic hit and three weeks after her water had broken at 20 weeks, causing her doctor to put her on bed rest at home.

With strict visitor restrictions in place, Conlin began ordering takeout dinners for his wife, had them delivered with flowers to her hospital room, and sat outdoors at a small table he set up below her room, talking to her by phone while they ate. This happened two or three times a week, rain or shine, with Conlin also holding up signs expressing his love for Moeller.

On most non-dinner days, Conlin returned to the same spot, sometimes with family and friends who joined him in displaying signs to boost Moeller’s spirits. One day, they threw an outdoor, socially distanced baby shower for her, and she was able to leave her room and join them for about 20 minutes. When Moeller, a full-time high school teacher and part-time life coach who taught students and coached clients remotely from the hospital, finished her last day of school, Conlin brought a piñata filled with tacos to celebrate. She watched and directed him by phone as he spun around blindfolded and tried to strike the piñata below her window.

“He just created these beautiful moments that surprised me and took my breath away,” Moeller said. “For me, in a room by myself and for the most part leaving the room just once a week to get an ultrasound, those moments meant everything.”

Bringing hands together to pray

The media soon learned about the couple’s story, and it spread like wildfire, drawing attention from traditional media outlets and social media in the U.S. and other nations, including Germany, Poland and Japan. “It was a lot to manage, but it got our story out more,” said Conlin, a former nurse who works as a life coach with Moeller. “I really believe it brought more hands together to pray for us, and that collective energy from around the world, praying for us and our son, made a huge difference.”

Their story was one “that the world needed at that time, because everything in the news was dark, dreary and really scary,” Moeller said. Some social media users said that checking for updates on her, Conlin and their unborn son was the first thing they did when they went online each day. Against the backdrop of the pandemic and civil unrest, “our story was one of love and hope, of going against the odds, and of triumph,” Conlin said. “People were looking for some goodness to hang on to, and in some weird, cosmic way, it all happened the way it happened.”

Buying into a vision

Moeller said the outpouring of love and support from family members, friends and strangers, along with the compassionate, whole-person care provided by team members at the hospital, made the weeks she spent there a magical time. “It was just a huge swirling of connectedness even when our outside world told us we should be disconnected,” she said.

Her experiences in the hospital “were both mystical and filled with love – experiences of these incredible nurses and doctors taking care of us in such beautiful ways,” she said, remembering how team members gave her manicures and pedicures and threw her their own baby shower. “The care team was unmatched, and they brought me into their community. I became a part of their family.”

Even more important, her care team “bought into our vision,” Moeller said. Although the odds were against the couple’s unborn child surviving with virtually no amniotic fluid, their obstetrician told them she had seen miracles in similar cases, and they clung to that hope.

“Going into my hospital stay, we had a vision that our son was going to be OK, and not once were we told otherwise,” Moeller said. “Every single person was supportive of that vision, and they aligned with it in really beautiful ways. That was a huge gift.”

Providing reassuring care

The positive, loving care that Moeller received culminated with Forest’s healthy birth nine weeks and five days after she was admitted. “From the moment he came out, he was surrounded by six or seven people,” Conlin said. “He was immediately getting the care he needed, and they were just so reassuring. The medical care and the technical aspects of it were hands-down beautiful. But what was so special was the care of the person – of our emotional state – and the reassurance they gave us.” Choking up momentarily, he added, “I had a moment where I got to look at Forest’s eyes, and in that moment, I knew he was going to be OK.”

Moeller said giving birth to Forest was “the most joyful, fearful experience of my life, because we didn’t know what to expect.” But from the time Forest was born at 4 pounds, 3 ounces, “he reassured us that everything was OK,” she said. His vital signs were strong, and within four days of his birth, he was able to breathe on his own without supplemental oxygen. He spent 20 days in the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit before going home. “He just needed to learn how to eat and to grow,” Moeller said.

Persevering through challenges

The years since then have presented significant challenges for Moeller and Conlin. Both suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and post-partum anxiety and depression after Forest was born, and Moeller was diagnosed with a rare form of breast cancer in 2023. But the experience of bringing Forest into the world has helped them persevere and emerge stronger, with a deeper sense of spirituality. “The experience of transmuting darkness into light has been a really freeing experience for us as a family of three,” Moeller said.

During the year after Forest’s birth, she and Conlin “put in a lot of healing work to learn about the trauma and how we can be with it and create a deeper relationship,” she said. “Both of us have grown side by side, hand in hand, together.” She, meanwhile, has been cancer-free for more than 18 months.

Moeller and Conlin revel in parenting Forest, whom they describe as a kind, tender, intuitive child with a beautiful wit – and a stubborn streak. “I like to say his stubbornness was what caused him to stay in me without amniotic fluid,” Moeller said. Every morning, she greets him by saying, “It’s another miracle day” – the same greeting she gave to the nurses who checked on her at 1 am each day during her long hospital stay.

A beautiful, full-circle moment

Moeller recently found herself driving past the hospital and decided to visit the spot where Conlin would sit during their dinner dates. Now occupying the spot is a bench with an inscription honoring them and Forest. It proclaims, “Date night are the best nights!” CBS and The Greatest @AtHome Videos show donated the bench after covering their story.

Moeller said she sat on the bench, looked up at her old room, and thought about “all the magic that happened inside that beautiful hospital to create our completely healthy child.” Danielle Fidler, patient experience director, saw Moeller from her office window and, not knowing who she was, went out to help Moeller with taking a photo.

When Moeller identified herself, the two women hugged and talked about how she was doing. Fidler told her she was the person who originally suggested the media might be interested in her story, leading to the extensive coverage that followed. “It was a beautiful homecoming, a full-circle moment that had been five years in the making,” Moeller said.

Reflecting on those five years, she talked about the lessons she and Conlin have learned from Forest. “He has taught us we can heal and come back stronger and that life can be magical even in the darkness,” said Moeller, who is writing a book about the experience. “He has taught us that we have choices and that the visions we create in our life are powerful. And he has taught us to have way more fun, to play and to see the world through the eyes of a child.”

Moeller also credited Forest for much of the healing she and Conlin have experienced – healing that has touched their extended family. “Because of him, we have taken on our healing, and our extended family is just so close on both sides now,” she said. “There is a depth to the love we all share that wouldn’t have been there without him.”