Mattie and Joshua Davis of Oklahoma City consider their son, Malachi, a Christmas miracle. While the outcome was everything they ever wanted, they anticipate this holiday season will be more joy filled than the last.
Early Delivery
Dec. 26, 2024, began like any other day. The glow of Christmas still lingered in their home, and the young couple were filled with anticipation, dreaming about the arrival of their baby in the coming months.
But by the afternoon, everything changed. Mattie was rushed to the hospital. She had gone into premature labor. Less than 24 hours later, their son, Malachi, was born at just 22 weeks, weighing barely over a pound. He was impossibly small, his life hanging by a thread. Mattie held him for only a moment, his tiny body fitting into the palm of her hand before he was whisked away to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at INTEGRIS Health Children’s inside INTEGRIS Health Baptist Medical Center. A team of caregivers surrounded him, working tirelessly to give him a fighting chance.
Tiny Fighter
For the first eight days, Malachi held on. But on day nine, his condition took a devastating turn. Doctors gathered the Davis family and gently prepared them for the worst. The odds of survival for a baby born this early were heartbreakingly slim. Mattie and Joshua were in shock. “Seeing how many wires and tubes were keeping him alive, and how tiny he was — it just didn’t feel real,” Mattie recalled.
In the weeks that followed, Malachi’s health remained unstable, but on day 28, it sharply declined. The hospital called the Davis family throughout the night with updates, each one more urgent than the last. By 6:00 a.m., the final call came. The young couple raced to the hospital, bracing themselves to say goodbye.
The Miracle
As Mattie held her son, for only the second time, her heart broke with the fear it might be the last time. But then, something miraculously changed. Against all odds, Malachi’s condition began to improve the next day. Slowly, steadily, he began to grow stronger. Each milestone brought renewed hope. And with time, Mattie and Joshua were finally able to hold their son—not just in fear, but in love.
Donations Matter
Thanks to donor-funded kangaroo care chairs in every NICU room at the hospital, Malachi’s parents could cradle him with skin-to-skin contact. This simple act—proven to regulate a baby’s body temperature, heart rate and breathing—helped them bond and helped Malachi heal.
Because of the generosity of donors, Mattie and Joshua no longer had to connect with their son through the glass of an isolette crib. They could hold him, comfort him and be part of his journey toward health.
