Incredible photos show premature baby Jaxon’s battle for survival over 123 miracle days in hospital
“The photos made a huge difference when we looked back over the weeks and months and could see how far he had come from being a tiny, pink baby,” say Mike and Roxanne
WRAPPING his tiny hands around his parents’ fingers, premature baby Jaxon Naama was finally starting to gain strength.
It was his 53rd day in hospital after being born 13 weeks early weighing just 2lb.
He was also partially sighted and had lungs so delicate, doctors said he would struggle to breathe.
This was the first time Jaxon had summoned enough strength to grip his mum and dad’s fingers.
Mum Roxanne Cooper, 30, and dad Mike Naama, 27, had been trying for a baby for a while and Roxanne had suffered three miscarriages before Jaxon’s arrival in June.
Scared for the future, the couple did not want to miss a second of their miracle baby’s life so they kept a photo diary.
Each day, Roxanne and Mike captured Jaxon’s magical moments, from the first time he opened his eyes to being able to grip his parents’ fingers.
Here, the proud couple, who got engaged when Jaxon was 26 days old, share their emotional diary in a bid to help other parents of premature babies.
Plumber Mike, from Hull, says: “We always knew we wanted to document Jaxon’s progress but I think the fact he was premature made us want to do it even more.
During her previous pregnancies, Roxanne suffered miscarriages before she reached nine weeks so at her 12-week scan with Jaxon, she felt optimistic.
The dance instructor says: “When we went for that 12-week scan, it was the best feeling ever for me. Even the sonographer was crying.
“At 16 weeks we decided to pay for a private scan to check everything was OK.
“We weren’t going to find out the sex but when we got there, we caved. We found out we were having a boy and had the name Jaxon within days.” But Roxanne started experiencing heavy spotting and was rushed to hospital after suffering a massive bleed and five days later gave birth to Jaxon on June 23.
Roxanne, who competed in the second series of ITV’s Pop Idol, says: “The doctors hadn’t been able to diagnose what was causing the spotting. Then when I bled heavily in the middle of the day, I was taken to hospital by ambulance.
“The doctors did an emergency C-section and discovered there was only a third of the placenta still attached to Jaxon. My womb was filling with blood. It’s what’s called a placental abruption.”
Jaxon was taken to the emergency ward where he was placed in an incubator.
Roxanne was finally allowed to see him 12 hours later.
She says: “At first, I wasn’t strong enough so Mike went to see him and took his phone so he could Facetime me.
It was the most surreal feeling, looking at the baby I’d carried but not seeing him in person. It was the strangest, scariest, happiest moment of my life.
“When I saw him the next day, it freaked me out as there were wires and tubes everywhere. I kept thinking, ‘You shouldn’t be here yet’.”
From that moment, Roxanne and Mike decided to keep a record of all Jaxon’s ups and downs until they could bring him home.
Mike says: “It wasn’t easy. Jaxon has chronic lung disease which will impact him for the rest of his life. He couldn’t see properly either and had to have laser eye surgery.”
But there were special moments too, which Mike and Roxanne cherished.
Roxanne says: “Doctors said Jaxon wouldn’t be able to cry because of his breathing but he cried from the beginning, which gave us hope.
“When the nurses asked if I wanted to hold him on day seven, I burst into tears. His skin was so thin and delicate. I cried with happiness for 30 minutes.
“And when Mike proposed, that was a big moment too. We’d had a bad day with Jaxon and he got down on one knee and said he wanted us to be a proper family.
“As time went on, new babies would come and go on the ward so Jaxon soon became the oldest.
“The moment doctors said we could bring him home was the best ever. We love having him with us.”