Couple's 'little ninja' born at 25 weeks

Jayden Marie Richard is a miracle baby — just in time for the holidays.

The little girl weighed one pound, 15 ounces when she was born on Nov. 18. 

She lost 9 ounces within the next few days, which Kalispell Regional Medical Center nurse Rochelle Mertz said is normal for premature babies.

“She’s the best Christmas gift ever,” said Jayden’s mother, Lisa Street, 30.

Jayden was born at 25 weeks, even though her parents and medical staff originally thought she was 28 weeks.

She is the youngest baby ever to be born at the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit since it opened in February 2008, Mertz said.

Jayden’s father, Luke Richard, 28, said he will never forget the phone call he got from Street’s mother, Roxanne.

“I couldn’t understand what she said. All I heard was ‘20 minutes,’ and I was here in five,” he said.

Medical staff decided to deliver Jayden via Caesarean section due to her mother’s physical condition.

Street was suffering from pregnancy-induced high blood pressure. She also had trouble breathing and chest pain. The surgery was performed “because that’s the only way the mother will get better” in situations like that, Mertz said.

Jayden’s eyes were fused shut when she was born and the parents only got to see her for a brief moment. “Seconds,” Richard said.

Unborn babies normally open their eyes at 26 weeks. That’s one of the reasons Dr. Gina Nelson, who delivered the baby, thought Jayden was younger than what they previously thought.

Richard was at his wife’s side through the surgery. “I talked her all the way through [it],” he said. “About halfway through is when we named her.”

Jayden was put on a ventilator the second day after her birth.

Now at five weeks old, she alternates between a ventilator and nasal tubes every four hours.

Jayden is remarkably healthy.

Often children born early will have cerebral bleeding and intestinal infections. She has had none, although she had pneumonia and a yeast infection. Antibiotics took care of those.

Her healthiness is “almost unusual,” Mertz said.

“We’ve accomplished a lot in just a month and a week,” she said. The tiny tot originally was fed intravenously through her belly button. She is now fed a tablespoon of her mother’s breast milk every three hours.

It was a rough pregnancy for Street, who had two previous miscarriages previously. She had eight ultrasounds over the 25 weeks.

“I’ve wanted a baby a long time,” Street said, noting she and her fiancee have been together for three years. Street’s obstetrician/gynecologist, Dr. Debbie Klein, recommended she not have another baby after Jayden.

“We actually only wanted one kid,” Street said.

She gets to hold her baby for two hours in the late morning or early afternoon hours. Richard holds his daughter for at least one hour in the evening. It was three weeks before they could do that. Jayden can almost entirely fit in one of her dad’s hands.

“I’m changing diapers now and dad gets to take her temperature,” Street said.

Jayden is “very feisty,” her mother said. Dad calls her his “little ninja.” Mom calls her “munchy.”

“It’s hard not to be with her” the rest of the day, said Street, who works as a general manager for American Printing.

“We’ve still got a long road, but it’s flying by,” said Richard, a car salesman.

At first they received phone calls from Dr. Judy Rigby every hour. “Dr. Rigby is amazing, to say the least,” he said.

“She just made us feel at home here,” Street said. “She feels like a grandmother to everybody,” Richard added.

Rigby was the hospital’s only neonatologist for a while, Mertz said. The hospital recently added another, Dr. Marshall Dressel.

Richard also was very complimentary of anesthesiologist David Klingensmith. “[He] was very comforting.”

The target date for Jayden’s release is Feb. 8, which was her original due date.

Jayden’s grandparents are close by to provide support. Olney residents Bruce and Roxanne Street moved in with Street and Richard for a couple of weeks. Lester and Kim Richard live in Kalispell.

There was no need for Jayden to be moved to another hospital. “Everything she needed, we had,” Mertz said, noting the hospital added a lot of new equipment to its birthing center over the past year

“They take care of her like she’s their kid,” Richard said.

“She kind of is when she’s here for 12 weeks,” Mertz added.

Reporter Caleb Soptelean may be reached at 758-4483 or by e-mail at csoptelean@dailyinterlake.com.