Little J.J. brings special joy to family this Christmas

J.J. Nelson laughs, smiles, crawls and loves to be held. His favorite things are mealtime, Mickey Mouse and his mommy, though not necessarily in that order.

His parents, Justin and Kristi Nelson, are eager to watch their 15-month-old son open his presents on Christmas morning.

“I can’t wait his face when he tears into his presents,” Justin said. “We couldn’t even imagine that last Christmas.”

This time last year, J.J. was three months into a five-month stay at Cook Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth. J.J. and his identical twin, Colt, had been born nearly 15 weeks early, weighing less than 2 pounds. J.J. was fighting chronic lung disease, still trying to breathe on his own.

And although J.J. was struggling, he was alive. Colt had been stillborn.

“I wish both of my babies were here,” Kristi said. “It’s so hard and but I know God has a plan for everything. It’s the hardest thing as a mom: You carry them and you feel them move.”

Kristi sits on the lone couch in the couple’s living room in Midlothian. A playpen full of baby toys dominates the space. She watches J.J. play with a tiny light-up piano as she replays painful memories.

“You have your babies one minute and the next you don’t have either one,” she said. “You have one you’re having to plan a funeral for and the other is in the hospital fighting for his life. That pain will never go away.”

When her Family and Medical Leave Act benefits ran out, Kristi was faced with a tough decision. Would she go back to work while her son was still fighting for his life in Cook’s newborn intensive care unit, or would she spend her days at his bedside, praying and loving on him, coaxing him to continue to fight.

Her employer gave her no alternative: Return to work or lose your job.

She chose to stay with her son.

“My son was in the NICU fighting for his life,” Kristi said. “There was no way I could ever think of going back to work and leaving him alone to fight by himself.”

Justin said, “Her leaving him by himself wasn’t an option.”

Two months later with his lungs showing improvement, J.J. finally got to go home. Doctors warned Kristi and Justin not to put him in day care, saying he ran a high risk of contracting a respiratory virus.

The Nelsons chose to have Kristi stay at home.

“I had already lost one baby,” Kristi said. “With all that J.J.’s had gone through, I couldn’t put his lungs at risk. The thought of losing him was too much to bear.”

As the medical bills mounted, Justin began to seek additional work.

He bought a mower and started mowing lawns on his days off. Kristi took to Facebook, selling anything that the couple didn’t absolutely need.

“If it’s not nailed down, there’s a chance it’ll be sold,” she said with a laugh. “We are parents that will give up all that we can to protect and provide for our kids.”

Now that winter has arrived, Justin’s mower spends most of its days parked in the garage while he looks for a better paying job.

“My family depends on me to eat, to live,” he said. “I’ve been in sales my whole life; I’ve always been the best salesman on the floor because I don’t let anyone outwork me. … Something will break for me.”

The Nelsons are struggling to keep their home.

“It’s very scary not knowing if you’ll have a house to live in the next month,” Kristi said. “But God hasn't brought us this far for nothing. We know our Colt angel is in heaven helping to watch over us.”

For Christmas, Justin hand-made Kristi’s presents and set back a few dollars for J.J.’s gifts.

“She always likes it when I make her a gift by hand,” Justin said.

One such gift hangs on the wall of the couple’s bedroom; a shadow box with a message inside that reads: “Not all twins walk side by side. Sometimes one has wings to fly.”

Colt is never far from their thoughts. Because the brothers were identical twins, the Nelsons know exactly what Colt would have looked like.

When they look at J.J., they see Colt.

This story was originally published December 24, 2015 at 3:40 PM with the headline "Little J.J. brings special joy to family this Christmas."