Joe and Aimee Aguilar held their 5-day-old son for the first time Wednesday night.
The next day, knowing he would likely die within hours of being removed from life-saving medical machines, they had him baptized and left the rest "up to God."
Jordan James entered the world violently Saturday night, delivered by emergency C-section after his mother's vehicle was struck by a car near Mahnomen, Minn.
Mother Aimee knew right away when her stomach hit the steering wheel that her baby might be in trouble.
"All I could feel was cramping; cramping and a lot of pain," she said Tuesday from her MeritCare Hospital bed in Fargo. "I couldn't feel him move."
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Doctors said the accident caused her placenta to separate from her son. They were unsure how long baby Jordan was without oxygen.
On Thursday, doctors confirmed that the baby was unlikely to survive. If he did, he would not be able to walk, talk or open his eyes. The parents gathered family and baptized baby Jordan, then removed their son's life-supporting respirator, said 36-year-old father Joe.
He said holding his boy the night before was the hardest, knowing they might soon be saying goodbye.
Aimee, 20, was headed westbound on Minnesota Highway 200 on Saturday night when a 16-year-old girl driving eastbound struck her vehicle, according to the Mahnomen County Sheriff's Office.
Mahnomen County Sheriff Doug Krier said the department plans to reconstruct the accident today or Monday. Krier said the Mahnomen County Attorney has told him not to release the other driver's name. The 16-year-old, also from Mahnomen like the Aguilars, was not injured.
Aguilar was due May 1 and had planned to have her labor induced Tuesday.
A benefit account has been set up at Bremer Bank in Detroit Lakes, Minn., under the name "Pamela Kohler Benefit Account for Jordan James Aguilar."
Kohler is Joe Aguilar's sister.
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Readers can reach Forum reporter Brittany Lawonn at (701) 241-5541
