'A Dream Come True’: James McCann and the Miracle of Fatherhood

James McCann was never scared. Not when he first found out he was going to be a dad. Not when he found out his wife, Jessica, was actually pregnant with twins. Not when they were told she needed to be hospitalized six months into her pregnancy. Not two days later when they were told Jessica would be giving birth, two months before her due date. And not during the seven weeks spent in the NICU that followed.

“We always felt that our boys’ birth story was just a continuation of the story and plan that God had created for us,” said McCann. “We were at peace through the whole thing.”

McCann and his family are familiar with children defying the odds. They are reminded of it every time they look at him. McCann’s mom found out she was pregnant with him months after her first pregnancy had ended in a stillbirth of their son, Timothy. The doctors warned them it could be a while until they got pregnant again, but it didn’t take them long. McCann’s due date was on the one-year anniversary of Timothy’s birth.

Thirteen weeks into McCann’s mom’s pregnancy with him, she developed a hole in her amniotic sac. The doctors gave McCann a one-in-four chance of surviving and told his parents it was all but guaranteed that he would be physically or mentally disabled. McCann’s parents told the doctors that they were going to take their chances and put their faith in God.

33 years later, McCann is about to celebrate his sixth Father’s Day. The dad of two happy, healthy twin boys, Christian Thomas and Kane Timothy.

“I vividly remember the room where they were born,” said McCann. “There were 12 to 15 doctors in there, there were two sets of teams for each baby. I remember holding them for the first time and having to give them up. They were born around 9:30 in the morning and we didn’t get to see them again until about 9:00 that night. I remember holding them and letting Jessica kiss them and then handing them off to the doctors and then they were gone.”

The McCann family spent a total of 51 days in the NICU. During those 51 days, they did a lot of dreaming and even more praying. McCann dreamt of the day his boys would come with him to the ball field, but most of his time was spent praying that his boys would leave the hospital without oxygen or feeding tubes, and that one day he would drive his family home.

On January 26, 2018, those prayers came true.

“The car seats are in the car, and I think we started to drive away, and my wife was sitting up front with me and we pulled out of the hospital, and I said, ‘Why are you sitting up here? You need to get back there with them,’” recalled McCann. “So we pulled over and she got back there with them. But that was probably the most nervous I’ve ever been driving. I followed all the laws of the road.”

The McCanns had about two weeks at home as a family of four before they took their second nerve-wracking drive. This time, it was to Spring Training. The usual nine-hour drive turned into about 15 hours, but it was worth it to have their family together. In a way, it seemed meant to be. They left for Spring Training on February 11, the boys’ original due date.

Baseball has always played a large role in McCann’s life. He found out he was going to become a dad when Jessica gave him a baseball for his birthday that read “Daddy, will you play catch with me?” It was right after they came home from a three-city road trip that they found out they were pregnant with twins. Whether or not those early days inspired the boys’ love for baseball is hard to tell, but there is no doubting their love for the game.

It is that love for the game that is the most surprising to McCann, although he knows it shouldn’t be. He was the same way growing up. They ask him to turn off cartoons and put on baseball, and they fall asleep to the sounds of MLB Network.

“It is definitely a dream come true to have two little boys who love the game of baseball,” said McCann. “I really haven’t pushed it on them. It’s just something they’ve fallen in love with themselves.”

McCann was selected as an All-Star for the first time in 2019, when Christian and Kane were a year and a half. After years spent watching players and their children on the field at the Midsummer Classic, thinking of how special that must be, McCann finally got to experience it for himself. Christian and Kane watched the Home Run Derby with McCann from the field, a moment they may not remember, but their dad will never forget.

“Just being on the field and sharing that with them,” said McCann. “That’s one of my favorite moments of the whole All-Star Weekend.”

This past April, McCann was there to watch them play in their first Little League game. He was there when they got their uniforms and when they got home and immediately put them on, playing catch and sliding around the house for hours. But his boys are there for him, too. Although they have figured out the difference between wins and losses and are starting to question his swing decisions, no matter what happens on the field, they are still happy to see him when he comes home each night. No matter what happens, he is still their dad.

McCann spent the first 51 days of Christian and Kane’s lives holding them in the palms of his hands, praying that he would get to bring them home. Now, five and a half years later, his boys are following him around the ballpark, and McCann will spend the rest of his life trying to make the most positive impact on them that he can.

“As long as they are happy, that’s all that matters to me,” said McCann. “But at the end of the day, I want them to be a better man than I was. I think just the impact I can have to help them become a better man than I was, a better husband, a better father, whatever it may be in their lives, I think that’s the most special part.”