Mother shares heartbreaking photos of her miscarried 14-week-old fetus

A born-again Christian who miscarried has shared heartbreaking pictures of the fetus showing its hands and feet.

Mother-of-11 Sharran Sutherland, from Fair Grove, Missouri, posted images of her 14-week-old fetus in attempt to show it was 'fully formed' despite being just four inches long and weighing 0.05lbs.

The 40-year-old didn't want the fetus to be disposed of as medical waste after she lost her pregnancy so she and husband Michael, 35, kept it in the fridge for a week before burying it in a flower pot in the garden. 

Sharran, who declares she is 'trying to live life as God would want,' then shared her story on social media where she insisted the fetus was a 'real baby.'

Mother-of-11 Sharran Sutherland, from Fair Grove, Missouri, posted images of the fetus' tiny hands and feet (pictured)

Sharran, 40, and husband Michael, 35, (pictured together) took their fetus home and kept it in the fridge for a week before burying it in a flower pot in the garden

She said in her anti-abortion post: 'How can a person deny not only my little boy's humanity but all other babies as young as him and kill them and in such a horrific way?

'I am hoping that by sharing these pictures of my precious little boy that it might just make one person who is contemplating abortion decide to let their child live.'

Sharran said she is 'grateful' she got the chance to give birth despite losing her child, whom she calls Miran.

The mother claims she was denied the chance to properly grieve because her baby was never legally a child. Under US law a fetus becomes a baby at 20 weeks.

Sharran said: 'Looking at him, holding him in my hand, looking at how perfectly formed he was: I was amazed.

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'I just couldn't believe how perfect everything was on him. His ears, his tongue, his gums, his lips. I couldn't believe it.

'You have those baby books that show you diagrams of a baby in utero but he didn't look like anything I had ever seen. I was just filled with such awe and amazement with him.

'He just needed to continue maturing and growing and developing. It blew me away. It was an incredible feeling. It's really hard to describe.

'Even though he had died, I was given that chance to hold my baby still. That longing was fulfilled. I was grateful for that. I couldn't fathom it.

'When a woman loses her unborn child she's not able to grieve in the same way as a woman who gave birth to a baby that dies after being born.

Sharran said she is 'grateful' she got the chance to give birth despite losing her child, whom she calls Miran. Pictured: The fetus' hand

'When a woman loses her unborn baby it's almost like you don't speak of it. A woman goes through it alone and I believe that's because other people don't recognise it as a human, as a baby.

'This isn't just about a woman grieving over her baby and not being able to give her baby life, it's about not recognising that this is a baby. It's just a tiny baby.'

Sharran's doctors urged her to have a dilation and curettage (D&C) procedure to cut the baby out of her womb after a sonogram revealed Miran's heart had stopped beating.

But Sharran refused because she 'didn't want her baby to come out in pieces' and instead opted to be induced and give birth naturally on April 23, 173 days before his due date.

She spent days studying Miran and taking his handprints before she, Michael and their children buried him in a plant box in their garden after the idea was suggested by a funeral director.

Sharran, a stay-at-home mother and homeschooler, said: 'The doctor said we can either dispose of it as medical waste, or you can call a funeral home.

'I was so angered by her calling my baby a 'fetus'. I couldn't believe she would insinuate he was medical waste. I was so angered by that.

'But I also felt like a funeral seemed extreme. I didn't know what to do and I was faced with this decision.

'My husband and I discussed burying him in a planter box filled with hydrangeas that would grow each year and come back to remind us of him, and we thought it was a great idea.

'When I got home [from the hospital] I made saline solution and I put him in it and I put him in my refrigerator.

'I know that sounds morbid to some people but I didn't want him to decompose or smell. I didn't know what else to do. We weren't ready to bury him yet.

'We had him almost a week. In that time I was able to get his handprints, take his pictures, hold him, grieve to an extent. But I had that time with him which I think really helped a lot.

'When it came time to bury him, that was hard. I wanted to dig him back up.

'I wanted to just keep him in my fridge. I didn't care if people thought it was morbid - I wanted to keep him there forever.'

A scan of Sharran's baby at 11 weeks, before her tragic miscarriage at 14 weeks

Sharron shared intimate photos of her baby boy online, showing his face and tiny fingers and toes.

The post went viral shortly after Miran's due date on October 12 with more than 36,000 likes, shares and comments. 

Since sharing her post, Sharron claims a friend was inspired not to have an abortion.

Sharran said: 'When it came to October 12th, which was his due date, I decided to write about him on that date.

'I think because I shared what he really looked like, and because I shared my view [on abortion], I know some people say I've turned this into a political thing which wasn't my view or hope.

'I hoped that if he could help someone who is contemplating and thinking about abortion, if a woman can see and have all the information in front of her, then she can make a better choice.

'Even if she still goes through with it then at least she knew. I wasn't trying to shame women who have had them.

'[A friend] was going to get an abortion because she and the father were young and he wanted her to abort.

'But she had seen my pictures of Miran, and when she did she couldn't go through with it. She couldn't kill her child.

'I couldn't believe that he had touched somebody. I had hoped for it but if it was someone that close, it was amazing.

'I thought, if that's all Miran's life was meant to do, then so be it.' 

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