28 February 2006 - Letter from Aunt Erin

Dear Jack,

Boy do we miss you. It’s been three weeks since we’ve seen you. That’s probably the longest we’ve gone without seeing you in this whole first year of your life.

About three weeks ago, you started getting sick. Since then, you’ve run the gamut of illnesses, from fever and ear infections to a nasty case of the rota virus. As parents of a two-month-old, your Uncle Brett and I have needed to keep our distance in an effort to keep your cousin healthy. And the result is that we miss you very much indeed.

Tomorrow is the first day of March, which is your birthday month. Like everyone else in the family, I can hardly believe you are already one year old. Yet in another way, I can hardly imagine my world without you in it.

I often call you a ham because you have a way of making people laugh. Your giggle is contagious and you enjoy the comedic effect you have on others. After your cousin Calum was born, I went for several weeks with very little sleep. On the Tuesday when Cal was three weeks old, I was exhausted to the point that I wondered if I had the strength to smile. I was sitting in your Grandma’s living room nursing your cousin and you started to play peek-a-boo with me. I found myself laughing in spite of it all. You were a glimmer of light when I needed it most.

Since you have gotten sick with this roto virus, we have thought about you day and night. In a selfish way, it has been difficult on us to stay away from you. Your Uncle Brett calls home from work several times a day to see if I have any news about you. I want so badly to come over there, scoop you up into a big hug and stroke the few strands of hair on that bald head. I miss dancing and singing with you. You wave your little hands in the air as I sing, so sweet in your acceptance of my song no matter how off-key.

In the past two weeks, your Mommy and Daddy have had some scary, sleepless nights. They have stayed up all night, holding you and trying to keep fluids in you to keep you out of the hospital. When I have seen your Mom in the past few days, I commented to her that she looked so tired. She truly didn’t seem to notice her own fatigue; you are their one concern. We’re thankful that you are young enough and won’t remember this sickness. But what you will carry with you is how well your Mommy and Daddy have cared for you. That is a feeling that is instilled deep inside you; you are loved, little boy, and your family will always be here for you.

You are a bright, sweet, curious bugger. When you grow up, I am confident you can become whatever you dream of becoming (except perhaps for a judge on American Idol, based on how you like my singing). You are also tough and we know you will come out of this okay, if a little skinny. This morning, you’re Grandma told me that you kept down some solid foods and were smiling. She said you seemed like your happy self, just a bit leaner. I am so happy to hear it.

In two weeks, we will celebrate your birthday. Keep on getting better, little buddy. You’ve got lots of birthday cake waiting for you!

Love always,

Aunt Erin

Rota Virus

2-27-06

Jack,

You poor little sweetheart! It turns out you didn't have the flu at all recently, but the Rota Virus which is a nasty little virus that gives babies nausea with vomitting and diarrhea. It's been really rough on you!

There was a day last week when we almost had to take you to the hospital for dehydration. You were moderately dehydrated, but we were able to persist with giving you Pedialyte and Lactose free formula in order to get you through that rough period. As of today, you are still struggling with frequent diarrhea and you have a horrible diaper rash, but we think it's slowing down a little.

Everyone has been so supportive. Your Aunt Kelly came by and helped me one evening with the dogs and ran to the store to pick up some more Pedialyte for you and your Aunt Erin has brought us countless items that we have used to get us through this period - wipes, chicken noodle soup, Tylenol, Gatorade, and homemade Butternut Squash lasagna which may be the best lasagna I have ever eaten in my life! Also - a couple of beers to take the sting out of the late nights ;)

On Saturday night, your belly button which has been kind of red and swollen - looked infected so we called your Aunt Kelly who looked at it and thought we might need to bring you to the hospital to have it checked out. We called your Grandpa Dougherty ("Poppa") and he came by at midnight to have a look himself.

After he looked at it, he concluded you had an infection in your belly button that had walled itself off and become it's own entity and needed to be drained. Instead of taking you to the hospital where you could have been exposed to other things and potentially get something else. Also, it would have been so stressful for you, so - instead, Poppa Dougherty and your Aunt Kelly drove with us over to Grandpa Dougherty's doctors office and they opened up the infection after putting on a numbing agent and put in a stint so it could drain for you.

Your belly button already looks SO much better today and I can tell that you feel relief from the pressure that was there before when it was swollen and bothersome.

Your Daddy is now sick with the flu - he threw up yesterday - so we have been trying to give him some time to sleep so he can get better fast. Long story short - we've all been kind of under the weather for more than a couple of weeks now (we had colds before the Rota Virus), but I'm aiming for us all to be recovered by this weekend and we'll have a nice weekend together - appreciating feeling good!

Nothing makes you appreciate being healthy more than immediately after feeling awful!

I have had the comfort through this period of getting a lot of snuggle time with you and THAT part of this period has been nice. We took about 3 long walks this weekend which I refer to as snuggle walks because we just snuggled the whole walk - but being outside allowed us to get some fresh air and sun while we snuggled. It's good for my heart to have those moments of closeness with you. I love them so much!

You are the best little boy ever, J - J!!! Mommy and Daddy love you so much!

Love,

Mommy

Jack's First Flu

2-22-06

Jack,

Oh, I don't think I have ever been so glad to see the sun come up before!

Yesterday and last evening was pretty scary for me and Daddy. You had the stomach flu yesterday and were throwing up everything we tried to feed you and having a lot of diarrhea.

I know you're probably thinking - Mom! Don't write about that... - but it's one of those things that parents go through with their children and I want you to know what it was like for me. One day - you may be up late with your child - worried and feeling desperate because there isn't much you can do to help your little one - and you can know that I've been there and you can call me!

We talked to Grandma and Grandpa Dougherty and called the exchange because we couldn't keep any liquids down in your system. The medical exchange instructed us to take you to the hospital, but we went to your Grandparents for them to look you over first. They said that you were moderately dehydrated, but if we took you to the hospital, we may have to wait long hours, you would maybe be put on an IV and be exposed to the other illnesses that were at the hospital, when we could take you home where you would be more comfortable and keep trying to give you small doses of fluids until we could keep them down. Grandpa checked your heart rate and said that it was higher than normal - you had a little tachycardia and your eyes were sunken from the mild dehydration. It hurt my heart to see you feeling so sick and unable to eat.

Daddy and I brought you home and took you into our bed. We put a bunch of blankets and towels under you so that you could vomit and have diarrhea accidents that we could quickly clean up and put down new towels and blankets and we all made it through the night together.

Your Aunt Kelly came by and brought you Pedialyte from the store while I stayed home with you (she also brought some chocolate treats for your father and me to help us get through the night, too, because she is sweet and thoughtful like that).

At about 3 AM your temperature spiked at about 103 degrees and I was very worried. We called Grandpa Dougherty and he told us to give you some infant Tylenol and change you into light weight t-shirt and diapers so that the temperature would break.

About 30 minutes later, the fever was broken and you were resting more comfortably. We got more Pedialyte in you at about 4 AM and this time - you didn't vomit. You are still having diarrhea and we'll be trying to keep you full of liquids so you can get better, but you were doing so much better this morning that I am very relieved!

Daddy called me after I had to go to work to tell me that you had woke up and were dancing to the theme song from the Simpsons and that you and Daddy were watching TV together and taking it easy. It made me so happy to hear that you are feeling more yourself again. Poor baby! Last night was tough, but you are so hearty - you just pushed right through it!

I love you, baby! I will be going home at lunch to see you and Daddy and then rushing home right after work!

I'm so glad to see your face looking colorful and full of expression again!

Love,

Mommy

2-17-06

Jack,

You are still getting over your first REAL cold and double ear infection, but you are such a little trooper! You are still smiling and laughing and loving life even though you aren't feeling your best.

I am going to be in a wedding this weekend and last evening I had to go to the rehearsal at the Church. You came along and had a wonderful time crawling around on the altar and toddling in the aisle and yelling Daa-Daaaa in the empty church so that it echoed and the rest of the people in the wedding party would laugh or smile and look over at you.

It got so cold outside last night - by the time we left, the wind had picked up terribly and the temperature had dropped below freezing. We got home and saw Daddy and played a little, but you were so tired and quickly dropped off to sleep. It's almost the weekend and I'm hoping that you'll be feeling a lot better so we can have some wonderful fun times together this weekend!

I love you!

Love,

Mommy

Jack's First Valentine's Day!

2-14-06

Jack,

Today is your very first Valentine's Day and I have just one question for you - will you be mine??? I LOVE YOU!!!

Since you have come into your Daddy and my life, you've changed our lives for the better in ways we never thought possible. You give life meaning like it never had before. On this - your first Valentine's day - your Daddy and I want you to know that we are so glad you are our little guy!

I know that it's not possible to make someone happy all the time, but when you grow up and look back over your years, I hope you find that you were more happy than sad and I hope you know that if there was ever a time when you weren't happy with an answer that your Daddy and I gave you, that there was always a good reason for it because nothing is more important to either of us than what is best for you! We want you to be the happiest, healthiest and most wonderful little boy that you can be and that you are already.

I make you a promise on this Valentine's Day that you can take to heart for always. I will always listen to you when you talk - I will hear your frustration and pain and I will take to heart any confidence you trust me with. I promise to be open to hearing my own shortcomings and making every effort to improve on them. I want you to look back one day and think - my parents did a great job raising me. That is my goal. I want you to want to be like us - not exactly. I realize that no one wants to be exactly like their parents, but the best parts of us. I want you to take the best from your Daddy and me and make those a part of you. You can disregard the parts of us that need work. :)

We love you so much, Baby Jack - and we are going to take you out to a nice Valentine's Day dinner tonight with your Mommy and Daddy and we'll celebrate by coming home and falling asleep together before we transfer you to your crib with a goodnight kiss from us both. Happy Valentine's Day, my little sweetheart!!!

Love,

Mommy