BOSTON -- Glenn Ordway, known to Boston sports fans as the "Big O" on his Big Show radio program on WEEI AM, recently took a leave of absence to care for his wife and brand new baby girl who both could have died.

Watch Part I | Watch Part II

Special Section: Miracle Of Mia

In an exclusive interview, Ordway and his wife, Sarah, sat down with NewsCenter 5's Liz Brunner to tell their story and talk about the new therapy that saved their baby's life.

"From where we were those first few days, I never, ever thought we'd be in this position. Ever," Glenn Ordway said.

"We just went in to have a baby. You just would never think that it could be a life-threatening thing," Sarah Ordway said.

The Ordways said they first noticed something wasn't quite right minutes before Mia was delivered.

"There was no heartbeat. There was no oxygen," Glenn Ordway said.

According to the medical report, Mia suffered hypoxic-ischemic ecephalopathy, a brain injury due to a lack of oxygen and/or blood flow to the brain at birth.

"They pushed my bed away and I said, 'Please just don't let my baby die,'" Sarah Ordway said.

What the Ordways and their doctors didn't know at that point was that Mia was suffering serious complications.

"I had a ruptured uterus, so I was in excruciating pain. I kind of just sat there and hoped," Sarah Ordway said.

"At this point, we're freaking out. We went from one end of the spectrum emotionally to the other end. We were stunned," Glenn Ordway said.

Doctors and nurses worked frantically to revive Mia.

"She was gone for 20 minutes. So we saw all of that. We saw that it was this lifeless baby," Glenn Ordway said. "Robert Insoft, who dealt with the neonatal right there at Brigham (and Women's Hospital) and he was the guy who revived her. He brought her back."

Mia was then rushed to the neonatal unit at Children's Hospital.

"So then they started to describe this innovative procedure," Glenn Ordway said.

What doctors wanted to try on Mia was similar to the controversial treatment that may have saved the life of Buffalo Bills football player Kevin Everett.

"I was well aware of that story. And he was able to walk again," Glenn Ordway said.

Doctors would induce hypothermia by placing Mia's body on a cooling blanket that lowers an infant's body temperature to 92.3 degrees for three days -- similar to a bear in hibernation.

"They felt that that would isolate the injury to the brain, and at that time, they were admitting to us that she did have brain damage," Glenn Ordway said.

Glenn Ordway said when he asked the doctors about the risk, they said they were not sure since Mia was only the seventh baby undergo the treatment.

"But at that point, it was a matter of saving the baby's life," Glenn Ordway said.

Glenn Ordway said as a husband and father, he felt helpless.

"I've never been more frightened in my life. I had Sarah in one hospital; I had our baby Mia in another hospital. It just made me feel helpless," he said.

Glenn Ordway said the worst-case scenario kept entering his mind.

"That I was going to lose the baby and I might lose my wife," he said.

The next few days would be the most critical for the family.

"The day after they put her on the blanket, and the line was, 'She's responding to it, which is a good sign, but we still don't know,'" Glenn Ordway said.

For 72 hours, it was touch and go. That's when doctors slowly warmed Mia's body back to normal.

"She's going to live. Four days into it was the first time we heard them say your baby is going to survive," Glenn Ordway said.

Sarah Ordway would continue to struggle with her own healing, but within a couple of weeks, mother and baby were allowed to go home.

"I felt the grace of God and I just said I'm so lucky that I'm look at you in your bassinette, rather than at your funeral," Sarah Ordway said. "She is a miracle and she is meant to be here."

Four months later, Mia is a happy, healthy baby.

"She acts and responds like a normal 4-month-old -- laughs, giggles and wets her pants and does all the normal things that a little 4-month-old does," Glenn Ordway said.

Mia will most likely need to be followed by a neurologist her whole life, but at this moment, doctors and her parents have every reason to believe that she will lead a normal life.

"That blanket I believe saved our baby's life. No doubt in my mind," Glenn Ordway said.