Jaxton Daniel Plathe

Jaxton was born via C-section at 38 weeks gestation by Dr. Tami Fahnlander, at Mercy Hospital in Des Moines, IA at 1:29pm in the afternoon on Monday, 12/29/2008. He was 6 lbs 12.6 oz at birth and was 19 3/4 inches long.  He was put on some oxygen initially while in the nursery, but only for a few hours  until his breathing settled down. He was as healthy as a horse and just perfect, and had great Apgar scores of 9 and 9. We were so excited that he was finally here and we could hold him. He ate well from the get go, as evident by pounding down his first 2 oz bottle!

We took a family vacation to the Wisconsin Dells (you can see many of the pictures from this trip in our gallery). We left Sat night at midnight so Jaxton could sleep thru the night and pulled into The Wilderness resort about 5:30am. We stayed until Thursday, May 14th before coming home. We stopped off at The House on the  Rock on our way home too to go thru that. While we were up there we spent most of our time at the water parks they had, but we also went thru a haunted house, played miniature golf, and took a ride on the Wisconsin Duck boats.  It was our '1st' family vacation with the 4 of us. Jaxton was a little water bug.. he really liked floating around in the tube in the lazy river, and also sitting in the swings they had in the water. We got in him the pool and he was having a blast, as was everyone else. We are so thankful that we didn't wait to take that family trip together, and have those experiences that we'll always remember. Many of the video clips and pictures we have of Jaxton are from this vacation we took. We did so much with baby Jaxton in the short 5 months and 4 days we had with him.. and for that we are thankful

Jaxton passed away on June 2, 2009 at his in-home day care in Grimes, IA. Jaxton had his 12:30pm bottle and then was laid down for a nap at about 1:00pm. The daycare provider checked on him a couple of times and he was fine, then when she checked on him again at approx 3:05pm, Jaxton had stopped breathing.  CPR was administered and 911 called. Paramedics were never able to revive him. Preliminary results are pointing towards SIDS, however that cause of death will not be official until all other tests are completed... or basically when they can't find anything else wrong, then SIDS is given as a cause of death.

 

Jaxton Daniel Plathe was granted his angel wings on June 2^nd, 2009.  Although, his life was so short, those who were touched by him are sure to understand and agree that he was an angel from the beginning.

 

Bias is often a common trait of parents and close family members of their beloved baby, but it would be hard to argue that Jaxton was anything short of perfection.  Although he wasn’t with us long enough to speak his first words in his short time on this earth, Jaxton portrayed an uncanny ability to communicate his joy and love through his precious smiles and little baby laugh that would just tug at your heart.

 

With Jaxton’s passing we are reminded that his life is one to be celebrated.  Although, we will miss him immensely every day, we thank God for the 5 months we were given with him. He will forever remain in our hearts and our fondest of memories. 

 

The level of grief we all feel simply cannot be put into words. When words fail, tears flow but through those tears there is an undeniable language.  Through our grief we portray our love and gratitude for Jaxton’s short time with us. Jaxton you will forever be in our hearts.  

We love you baby boy.  Mommy & Daddy will miss you, and we will never forget you.  We will be reunited someday, and then we can all be a family once again…

 

OUR BABY JAXTON

In a baby castle, just beyond our eyes,
Our baby plays with angel toys that money cannot buy.
Who are we, to wish that you had known this world of strife?
Now, play on Jaxton, you have eternal life.
At night, when all is silent and sleep forsakes our eyes
We’ll hear your tiny voice.
Your little hands caress us, so tenderly and sweet
We’ll breathe a prayer and close our eyes
And embrace you in our sleep.
Feelings we will treasure,
Sometimes they’ll make us sad,
Because, our little Baby Jaxton
We are still your Mom and Dad

GOODNIGHT AND BLESS YOU.

 

Jaxton is survived by his loving parents Daniel A. and Misty M. Plathe and his brother Gage of Grimes, IA, whom they never took for granted the miracle they had in their arms.

 

Grandparents:

Ann & Charlie Sessions of Osceola, IA, Linda & Jerry Smith of Osceola, IA, Jeannie Vakulskas of Sioux City, IA, and Jerry Plathe Sr. of Des Moines, IA

 

Great Grandparents:

Jack & Margie Nish of Osceola, IA, Viola Smith of Osceola, IA, and Charles Vakulskas of Sioux City, IA

 

Aunts & Uncles:

 Jeremy Smith of Des Moines, IA, Jerry & Gina Plathe of Sioux City, IA and Lee Hansen of Sioux City, IA.

 

Cousins:

Aaron and Lexi Plathe of Sioux City, IA

 

Jaxton is also remembered by so many other family members and friends whom shared this precious little boy’s life.

On Tuesday, July 21st, we got a call from the Polk county Medical Examiner's office, and they said that the Medical Examiners report was finished, and it was official.. the cause of death was 'undetermined', and consistent with sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). This was 7 weeks to the day of his death, and almost at the exact same time of day within minutes that Misty got the call on June 2nd that Jaxton wasn't breathing from Shana, the daycare provider. This really wasn't a surprise to us, but it was still disheartening to learn that we most likely will 'never know' exactly what it is that caused him to suddenly die while sleeping during his 1pm nap on Tuesday, June 2nd....