Our Christmas Miracle

This is a story about our family's Christmas miracle.

His name is Jaiden and he's about to turn three.

but you see, he wasn't born a normal baby.

What I mean by that, is that he was born quite early.

How early, you may ask.

18 weeks, or 4.5 months to be exact.

He was born at only 22.5 weeks (out of the required 40 weeks),

just weighing in at ONE pound, TWO ounces and measuring 11 inches.

How tiny is that?

Picture a barbie doll. And for his sake, let's have you imagine a barbie KEN doll, since he is a boy.

Trust me, he was in fact, as skinny and as tiny as a barbie Ken doll.

Trust me on that one.

He wasn't expected to live.

In fact, he wasn't expected to breath at all.

The doctors had no hope.

They had no hope at all.

Until,

they saw a tiny body gasp for air the second he was born.

JAIDEN WANTED TO LIVE.

He fought, and so did the doctors.

The doctors told us he would never survive.

That there was no use.

They had never seen such a thing.

Babies can be small when born, but NEVER can be this gestationally early, they said.

It just hasn't happened, it just can't happen.

"He has no chance."

Still, through the incubator, I saw a tiny rat like baby, MY baby fighting.

Tubes ran up his nose and down to his stomach and needles bigger than his body stuck out throughout his body, ripping his skin at every opportunity.

I wasn't allowed to touch him, so forget being able to hold and comfort my baby.

I cried.

He underwent multiple serious and life threatening surgeries.

"Let him go in peace," some would even advise me.

"You're putting him through so much unnecessary pain."

I can't tell you how many sleepless and tormented nights I spent, and no doubt it was the same for our family.

but Jaiden fought.

He wanted to LIVE.

and so the doctors dutifully fought too, doing all they knew how.

Most importantly, we PRAYED. We prayed and prayed.

And when we were too tired to pray, our families, our friends, our country, and sometimes it felt as though the whole world prayed for us too.

and so Jaiden fought.

and so we did too.

The barbie baby who fit my wedding ring through his elbow eventually grew to be 6 pounds, just four months later.

"still, he will have no quality of life."

some doctors predicted.

"It doesn't matter, he is still our son, and we will love him no matter what."

Now, it was our turn to fight.

Now it's almost been three years.

Tears fill my eyes as I sit here, thinking back in amazement all that had happened,

and I can't imagine a world without the little guy.

{Dear Jaiden, our little Christmas miracle}

I know I can be hard on you at times, and I know I call you "punk," "stinky butt," or just plain "bugger." But know that you are loved beyond measure.

I am so glad that we fought for you, and even more glad you fought to stay with us.

I love how feisty you are, how strong you are. I admire how determined you are and how you never give up. Sure, it's a pain right now, but I know these are the things that Heavenly Father gave you so that you could be with us today.

You brought our family closer.

You reminded us what Christmas was all about.

The power of the Lord, and the miracles of prayers.

Always remember who is in charge, and always give thanks to the Lord.

May you live your life with no regrets, living each day as precious gifts. Well, I don't think I need to remind you of that, you know best how precious life is. After all, you fought so hard to be here.

We love you very much, my little punk,

Jaiden.

p.s. "Jaiden" means "grateful."