Ann Arbor News- Story of the Baby Jack

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On the day he's born, son plays catch with dad Baby's early arrival forces father to step up to the plate

Friday, September 08, 2006

BY SUSAN L. OPPAT News Staff Reporter

There are home births, and then there are births like the one that earned Jon Fisher a full-size catcher's mitt as an award for the "best catch'' - his own newborn son.

Now three weeks old, young Jack Fisher threw his Ypsilanti Township family the curveball Aug. 25 when he decided to enter the world a month early - and with an urgency that demanded delivery at home instead of at the hospital, a 32-minute ride away.

Not that mom and dad didn't try to make it to the hospital. Tracy and Jon Fisher were headed out the door, moving with calm deliberation under the experience of birthing their first child and a midwife's advice. But Tracy Fisher recognized this child had a different plan. While still in the garage, she turned to her husband and let him know they would be having this baby at home.

Nine minutes later, Jon Fisher was making the catch. Four days later, the dad received a second delivery - the catcher's mitt sent by his parents, Al and Nancy Fisher, who live in New York. With the mitt came a certificate identifying it as "The Best Catch Ever Award.''

Jack's birth day started like any other summer weekday for the Fishers.

Tracy and 2-year-old Gracie had been to the gym and a couple of garage sales. Tracy, 37, had five weeks to go before the new baby was expected to make his appearance in early October.

Jon, 35, an engineer for Ford Motor Co. who'd just spent five months on the road, figured he had time to spare before the anticipated birth. After all, Gracie was born precisely on her Sept. 15, 2003, due date after 17 hours of hard labor.

Tracy thought the same, even as she felt that first contraction about 5:30 p.m. With the long previous labor and even a false start the day before Gracie was born, Tracy saw logic in the midwife's suggestion to stay home as long as possible.

By 7:10 p.m., the pains were clocking in every three to five minutes. It was time to go.

So the couple asked neighbor Lindsey Canada, who is four months pregnant with her first child, to stay with Gracie while they drove to the University of Michigan Medical Center. The Fishers called the midwife from the garage.

But as soon as Tracy hung up, she said Wednesday, "the contractions took off.'' The couple made it back into the house, and called 911. They settled Tracy down on a blanket in the den in the front of the house.

Tracy said the 911 dispatcher told Canada to pull Jon's shoelace from his shoe to be prepared to tie off the baby's umbilical cord.

Then, with Canada caring for Tracy, Jon headed upstairs to pack. But he discovered he'd abruptly lost the ability to read the list of items to take. So he sent Canada upstairs, with a remarkably calm Gracie in tow, to pack and grab bath towels to keep the baby warm.

Jon then followed instructions from Huron Valley Ambulance EMT dispatcher Doug Trojanowski over the phone until a squeaking Jack landed in his father's arms. Fisher made the catch just as firefighters Tom Stachlewitz and Fred Anstead arrived.

"We saw the dad catch him, and witnessed the baby's first breath,'' Stachlewitz said this week.

Canada, diligent in her assigned task, offered Jon's shoelace to the pair of firefighters. But the firefighters had their own gear, Tracy said, laughing at the memory.

Huron Valley Ambulance paramedics arrived a few minutes later, and everyone headed for the hospital, the Fishers said.

Jack weighed in at 5 pounds, 10 ounces, small by full-term standards, but downright beefy for a preemie. And while he isn't big enough to play catch with the old man yet, he is still a champ in one event, Jon said Wednesday. This kid can power nap, his dad said, right through a stint on a pillow on a wiggly big sister's lap.

Susan Oppat can be reached at soppat@annarbornews.com or
734-482-1166.
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