GREENVILLE — Tyler and Vanessa Martin brought their son, Jayden Alan, home from the hospital last Tuesday, after he spent more than 150 days in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at Children’s in Dayton.
It has given them a little time to get acclimated to their new lifestyle now that the baby and Christmas Eve are here.
He was born premature five months ago on July 17. His actual due date was Oct. 20.
Vanessa, who is a Realtor, said she was actually sitting on her bed writing an offer on a house when problems began.
She felt like her water had broken, but, in actuality, her placenta had erupted. After visiting the doctor, she was ordered to get to Wayne HealthCare, where Dr. Lachiewicz soon delivered the baby via Caesarean section.
“We had one boy’s name and several girls’ names picked out,” Vanessa said. “Jayden’s Hebrew name means ‘God has heard.’ His name is important now that he’s gone through this.”
Vanessa spent three days in the hospital, while her son was immediately sent directly to Children’s.
Tyler said he stayed with his wife in the daytime and went to be with their son in the evenings.
“Jayden had had a severe brain bleed, and after she was released, she went down to be with him,” Tyler said. “She was there everyday and night the whole time from July 17 until released on Dec. 17. He was in the Isolette for 60 days.”
Vanessa got to hold her son for the first time on Aug. 3, and on Sept. 21, he was able to breathe on his own.
She could even continue with her Realty work, all the being there for their son.
“I had an assistant at my job at Remax who helped,” she said.
The baby, they said, measured 12 inches long at birth and has now grown to 21.75 inches.
During his hospital stay, a shunt was placed in his head and will remain there his lifetime.
“We will find out more as times goes on,” said Tyler, who has been supply chain operations manager at Prairie Star Farms, New Weston for the past three years. “We don’t take him anywhere because we don’t want him getting sick. “He has an S-tube, which is for his bilateral hernia which has been repaired. The S-tube will go away.”
The pregnancy itself was a shock, a surprise and emotional for the couple.
“We’d tried to get pregnant beforehand,” said the 2009 Greenville High School graduate.
Their son, as noted, was born 14 weeks early, weighing in at 1 pound 9 1/2 ounces. Now, he’s at 9 1/2 pounds.
“At the hospital, Jayden’s skin was paper thin and his arm was the size of my pinkie. I could slide my wedding ring down his arm,” Tyler said.
The couple decorated their home the same day they got back from the hospital with Jayden. Both of their mothers have been helping them out around the house.
Jayden is the first grandchild of Tracey and Lisa Martin and the fourth for the Sifuentees
The couple’s faith was challenged a number of times since their son’s arrival. Jayden had his ups and downs throughout his hospital stay.
Grandparents of the baby are Tracey and Lisa Martin of Greenville and Albert and Maria Sifuentes of Pickerington.
The Martins met in Columbus while he was attending Ohio State University and she was working in real estate. Vanessa, who was from Pickerington, exchanged vows with Tyler June 3, 2017.
“Going through this has been scary and terrifying,” said Tyler, who is the grandson of Richard and Carledia Rehmert and the late Dick and Mary Martin. “We want to thank Wayne HealthCare and Dayton Children’s.”
“If it weren’t for the faith and support we had from family and friends, we wouldn’t have gone through this like we had. I knew someone it happened to before and the mother didn’t make it. I cried. I figured he’d make it, but I wasn’t sure about me, said Vanessa, a 2003 graduate of Harvest Preparatory School in Canal Winchester.
Now, they are really ready to celebrate Christmas.
They have at least two special Christmas gifts this year: their son and the scrapbook the nursing department at Children’s made for them, tracking Jayden’s medical journey.
