Simply Wonderful!
Sharper Minds Daily
Posted on 12/12/2004 2:31:02 PM PST by Dan from Michigan
Tiny baby survives despite being born four months early 12/12/2004, 11:27 a.m. ET
By BRAD FLORY
The Associated Press
JACKSON, Mich. (AP) — Jordan Robert Fisette entered the world with big odds stacked against him.
Born a year ago Sunday and nearly four months early, the Jackson boy weighed just 15 ounces.
He was cared for at the neonatal intensive care unit of the University of Michigan Health System. Everyone knew he was likely to die.
Everyone, that is, except Jordan. Today, he is a small-but-feisty baby.
"We realize how lucky and how blessed we are. There are so many more things that could be wrong," said Jon Fisette, Jordan's father.
"Everybody spoils him," said Jordan's mother, Mary Fisette. "He's doing a lot better than I could ever hope or expect."
Mary Fisette needed an emergency cesarean section 24 weeks into her pregnancy because she developed symptoms of preeclampsia, a potentially fatal condition for mother and baby.
A ventilator did Jordan's breathing for nearly three months. His parents were repeatedly told to prepare for the worst. It was a cheerless holiday season.
"We don't count last Christmas as his first Christmas," said Mary Fisette, 38, who works in the records office at the Charles Egeler Correctional Facility. "This will be his first Christmas."
Slowly, Jordan gained size and strength. He proved the doctors wrong by surviving crises big and small.
Jordan came off the ventilator in March, went home to his parent's house on the northeast side of Jackson in May and no longer needed oxygen tubes by August.
At age 1, Jordan weighs slightly less than 14 pounds and still has plenty of catching up to do. He would be 8 months old if born on his due date, but is at the developmental stage of about a 4-month-old, his mother said.
But he has already come a long way. He multiplied his birth weight nearly 15 times in his first year.
Jordan is now big enough to hold his own bottle and feed himself. He is a chatterbox, although his parents say they can make out just two words, "Mom" and "a-poo." The second is his way of demanding a diaper change.
"He's a good baby, but when he wants something, he wants it right now," Mary Fisette said.
Jon Fisette, a 40-year-old custom cabinet builder, likes to tell Jordan: "That temper saved your life, but it will be the death of your parents."
Jordan has a brother, Kyle Fisette, 15, and two sisters, Ashley Fisette, 17, and Paisley Fisette, 12, from Jon Fisette's previous marriage. He is Mary Fisette's first child.
Ashley, a senior at East Jackson High School, held Jordan in some poses for senior pictures.
"He is a very important part of my life," she said.
Medical uncertainty continues to loom in Jordan's future.
He's had five eye surgeries and is blind or nearly blind in his left eye.
Audiologists say he is at risk of hearing loss because of prematurity and because he took so many medications. No hearing problem has been found, but they are watching closely.
Jordan attends a weekly program called Early On at the Lyle Torrant Center to help speed his physical and mental development.
"They hope he won't have any problems developmentally," Jon Fisette said. "But he may."
Next week, Jordan and his mother will return to the neonatal intensive care unit in Ann Arbor where he stubbornly clung to life.
Mary Fisette made Christmas ornaments for the babies there. She remembers other intensive care "graduates" visiting last Christmas, a gesture that made a deep impression during her most anxious moments.
"They gave us a hope," she said.
Each ornament has a tag that reads: "Jordan Fisette was born at 24 weeks, weighing only 15 oz. and 101/2 in. long. He just celebrated his first birthday and is doing great! Happy Holidays to your family from ours!"
"Every day, at least once a day if not three or four times," Mary Fisette said, "I close my eyes and say a little prayer and thank God for letting me keep him."
I made it born almost three months early. Luckily, he has the most modern of medicine.
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What a great post. You got me crying here, not fair!
Merry Christmas and happy birthday to this wee one.
A 24 week abortion is a child, not a choice.
Baby loving bump.
Glad you made it Dan,and thanks for a happy post for the Christmas season.
A remarkable story.
Although little Jordan has many problems that Logan hasn't had, he has that same fighting spirit and that same temper!
God bless this little one, and may God hold him and protect him.
I came in at 4 lbs and a foot long myself, DFM. To make matters worse, there were no available incubators in the tiny medical facility. I hear it was a bit of a trial for my folks, as I'm sure it was for yours. But, hey.....I guess we were both just ornery enough to make it!
Want to chime in on this one PING???
Dec 23, 1980 my son was born only 7 weeks early but 3 lbs 8 oz.
now 6'2" 250#.
I'd have had 3 more brothers had the technology been available when they were born.
My poor mother held them till they died. They would have been born in the late 30's, early 40's. Penicillin was a big deal back then .
My oldest daughter was born 3 months early, a mere 1 pound 12 ounces. She is now a perfectly normal 5 year-old. She goes to kindergarten and she has no health problems.
Nice article Dan, thnx!
Kinda makes me wonder, though, when scientists finally are able to do the complete gestation process without a womb. What will the baby murderers say then?
Here's what I see: Outlaw third trimester abortions, severely limit second trimesters, and loosen the adoption laws so that pregnant women of all stripes can contract with adoptive parents to birth live babies. There is no reason in the world why we have to go to Russia to find adoptable babies.
If even one baby is not aborted as a result of this, Jordan's trauma will be momentary in light of eternity.
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Hi All...
Nana here writing for Logan.
Tears are streaming down my face as I recall our fears with Logan, and the happiness we now are able to share with the world.
Bless this little one and may God keep him safe and in continued good health.
It's so true that without that fighting spirit, they wouldn't make it. But perhaps the most important part of Logan's accomplishments came from love. The love of God, the love of all who pray and care about him on a daily basis, and the love that this child has for the world.
Truly, this will be Logan's first "aware" Christmas and I can tell you all that his eyes light up like the lights on his Christmas tree when he begins every day. Christmas in Logan's house is each day of the year.
God bless ... and prayers for our new little friend Jordan.
Dee aka Logan's Nana
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No kidding. If medicine can do this, then there is no excuse for an abortion after the fifth month. If some woman wants 'out,' fine... but get the little one out of there alive, and put it in whatever they used here. We don't need to be killing people over this.