"We wanted to make the most of the time that we had with him."

Even before he was born, little Shane Michael Haley had seen the world.

He’d been to the top of the Empire State Building and to Times Square, visited a zoo and an aquarium, and relaxed at concerts and beaches.

When his adoring parents, Jenna and Dan Haley from Pennsylvania in the US, learned 13 weeks into the pregnancy their unborn child had anencephaly – a neural tube defect in which a baby is born without parts of the skull and brain – they wrote up a “bucket list” of experiences they’d like to share with the little boy.

The life expectancy for babies born with the birth defect is a few hours to a few days, so Shane’s brave parents wanted to have as many experiences with him as they could.

“Most families wait until their baby is born to start making memories and travelling to places with them,” Mr Haley told 6abc.com.

“We understood what it was and knew that our time with our son could be very limited, so we wanted to make the most of the time that we had with him.”

They took their unborn son on dozens of adventures, documenting those precious moments on a Facebook page called Prayers for Shane, which ultimately gathered over 790,000 ‘likes’ by social media followers.

Photos shared on the page show the young couple preparing a cot for their little boy, taking him to see their favourite sporting team, and even baking cakes to celebrate milestones in the pregnancy.

Today, they announced with joy the birth of Shane — but as they had feared he might, the little boy died just hours later.

Following his birth, the family shared a photo of Shane wrapped in his mother’s loving arms and a knitted blue blanket, his proud father looking on.

The accompanying caption read: “happy birthday to our little man!”

The little boy was baptised and spent a few precious hours with his parents — but he passed away later in the morning.

“Today at 6:15 a.m., after meeting his entire family and being baptized into the Catholic faith, baby Shane died peacefully in his Mother’s arms,” the Haleys wrote in a Facebook message.

“We are so grateful for the time that we were blessed to hold and hug our son.”

The grieving couple also thanked their supporters for all their love and prayers.

“Shane spent his entire life in the arms of people that loved him unconditionally and I didn’t think you can ask for a more beautiful life than that,” the post read.

Our thoughts are with the Haleys.

Some of the memorably moments shared by the Haleys on the Prayers for Shane public Facebook page:

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