Woman who lost home in Hurricane Harvey days before due date gives birth to girl
— -- An expectant mother who fled her Texas home with her husband and two children during Hurricane Harvey and then learned their home had been destroyed -- all just days before her scheduled C-section -- has given birth to a healthy girl.
Danielle Weeks, her husband William Weeks and their daughters Annabella, 5, and Alizabeth, 18 months -- with whom ABC News has been embedded since the storm made landfall -- now have a fifth member of their family, Loralynn, who was born Tuesday morning.
"As long as she is safe, nothing else matters," William Weeks said.
Days before the birth, on Saturday, the family tried to return to their home in Port Aransas to see what type of damage had been done, only to be turned away by law enforcement because the area was an active search-and-rescue scene.
ABC News was traveling with the family that day and was granted permission by officials to drive to the area. The news crew offered to shoot video for the family and bring it back.
Before the storm, the young family’s initial plans were to ride out the hurricane in a hotel, have their baby at a nearby hospital and go home. But after seeing videos of their car smashed and their RV flipped on its side with many of the inside contents spilled out, that all changed.
"The worst part is seeing all my kids' stuff on the ground," Danielle Weeks said Sunday while wiping tears from her eyes. "I just hope everybody left.”
Then, she spotted a blanket in the video, one she had been knitting for the newest addition to the family.
"That's the baby's blanket I was making for her," she said, crying.
Now, the Weekses, who left their home a family of four and are now a family of five, are homeless and trying to figure out what's next.
Gulf Coast residents struggle to recover after Hurricane Harvey
The storm reached Category 4 before making landfall on the Texas coast, and record rainfall flooded Houston and surrounding areas.
They want to return to Port Aransas, but the family knows it won't be easy -- the area is severely damaged and it's expected to take up to two years to rebuild.
For now, they are happy to have their new addition, a baby William Weeks called a miracle.
