At 25 weeks pregnant, Jada went to the hospital experiencing significant pain and spotting. Her belly had grown quickly, measuring closer to what doctors would expect at 38 weeks. She was referred to a high-risk specialist where doctors discovered that she had an unusually high amount of amniotic fluid.

After this, everything moved fast. Jada was experiencing a placental abruption, and her son Ace needed to be delivered immediately. There wasn’t time for an epidural. Jada was put under general anesthesia and taken into surgery. Despite arriving so early, Ace was doing better than expected. But his journey was only beginning.

Within his first days of life, doctors noticed that Ace wasn’t tolerating food or having bowel movements as expected. They discovered a spontaneous intestinal perforation, or SIP, a small hole in his intestine. Because Ace was so tiny and his abdomen was extremely swollen, doctors initially placed a drain to allow fluid to escape.

In addition to the hole in his intestines, Ace faced another significant challenge just days after his birth when doctors discovered a brain bleed. They continued to monitor him closely through a series of scans.

For Jada, the waiting was one of the hardest parts. Ace was so young, and there was only so much his tiny body could handle at once. Even after his intestines began to heal, feeding wasn’t easy. His body struggled to process what doctors gave him, and the process became one of trying, waiting and trying again.

Then came a milestone that might seem ordinary to anyone outside of the NICU: Ace began pooping on his own. After roughly two weeks of working toward eating and having bowel movements, his body was beginning to figure it out.

While Ace has been fighting and growing, life outside the hospital hasn’t stopped.

Jada and her husband have two older sons, ages 6 and 10, waiting for their little brother at home. The family lives about 45 minutes from the hospital, meaning that being present for Ace while maintaining a sense of normalcy for their older children requires a constant balancing act.

As their world shifts and revolves around hospitals and medical care, one thing they can count on is being together. Early in their journey, the family began using the Ronald McDonald Family Room at Fairview Hospital. Being able to stay in the hospital with their child, have warm meals and a place to rest changed the game. Stepping away for a moment to the Family Room allowed them to show up ready to handle the challenges, together.

Ace’s recent scans have brought encouraging news, and doctors continue to monitor his development. After everything he has experienced, Ace’s family is now able to focus more on the milestones that will eventually bring him home.

He has been off CPAP for two weeks and is working on bottle feeding, which is a major task for a baby who was born so prematurely. As Jada says, asking Ace to learn how to bottle feed is a little like “asking him to run a marathon without training.” But if the last few months are any indication, Ace isn’t afraid of a challenge.

As Ace’s care continues at Cleveland Clinic Main Campus, Ronald McDonald House became another source of support.

“It’s been such a big help,” Jada said.

For their older boys, Ronald McDonald House also provides something especially important: a place where they can simply be kids. They can play Nintendo Switch in the game room, spend time together as a family and have a space away from the hospital environment while remaining close to their baby brother.

For Jada, it feels “like home without home.”

The family has also been able to enjoy experiences together during Ace’s hospitalization. They attended a Cleveland Guardians game, where the boys walked away with not one, but two game balls. Opportunities to visit local museums and enjoy other activities have given the family ways to create normal moments during a challenging time. More importantly, those moments give Jada and her husband a chance to focus on all three of their children without being far from Ace.

Ace continues to work on bottle feeding and will need hernia repair surgery before he can go home. His medical team continues to monitor him and make sure he is ready for life outside the hospital.

Today, the baby who entered the world at just 1 pound, 15 ounces is more than 5 pounds and growing. He’s breathing without CPAP, learning to eat, and fitting into newborn clothes.

When Jada looks at her son Ace, she sees a spunky, feisty baby who has already overcome more in his first few months of life than many experience in years. After months measured in scans, procedures, feedings and tiny victories, Jada and her family are looking forward to the milestone they’ve been waiting for most, the day they can finally bring Ace home.