Jesse McCartney, the American actor and singer known for voicing the character Theodore in the children’s film Alvin and the Chipmunks, has opened up for the first time about the birth of his son, who was born more than three months early.
Jesse and his wife, Katie, welcomed baby Archer home after spending 70 days in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Fortunately, after his time of recovery and healing after being born prematurely, he went home a “perfectly healthy baby”.
Katie’s pregnancy was proceeding without incident until she was hospitalised two weeks before Archer’s birth with preterm labour complications. Jesse, who was in Boston at the time, got on the first flight back to Los Angeles, sleeping on an inflatable mattress in Katie’s hospital room.
“It meant everything to me that he didn’t leave my side…. For us it was really unifying”, Katie said. “I think you always obviously marry someone because you appreciate them, respect them and their values. When push comes to shove, you don’t know what’s going to happen. We were on the same team, and everything was for Archer. There was no room for us to disagree”.
The couple decided the situation was just too difficult to explain to their friends, so they decided to keep it in the family. “It was hard to talk about because we didn’t know what was happening, so to explain to other people was just insane”, Katie said.
But Baby Archer grew from strength to strength and made it through his time in the NICU in a “textbook” manner, Jesse explained. “He soared the NICU in a way that is textbook, which is what the doctors literally said. We hung onto that and just took it a day at a time”, he said.
Now home, the parents are enjoying spending time with Archer. “When he gets excited or he can’t sleep, I try to bring him over to the piano, and I’ll play some music for him, and he totally goes wide-eyed. You can tell he’s really tuning in”, Jesse said. “Just three days ago he started smiling at me. I just can’t get enough. I feel so lucky”.
Although things were not easy, Jesse and Katie are enjoying their new life with Archer. “I can’t imagine going through anything more difficult”, the singer said. “That was a real test for us. Getting to see [Katie] fight so hard to keep that baby in there was rough, but I just really fell in love with her even more intensely. I was never more proud. This just brought us closer together.”
“The greatest day of my life was packing up the car with him and driving home”.
Spokesperson for Right To Life UK, Catherine Robinson, said “It is encouraging to hear this heartwarming story about baby Archer, who has made it through his tough time in the NICU and is now thriving”.
“Babies born prematurely face better odds of survival than ever before, and heartening stories such as this prove that babies can go on to live a full, happy life, even when born extremely prematurely”.
