‘When am I going to get my baby brother? I just want my baby brother.’: After losing a baby at 11 weeks, mom is THRILLED to tell her son he’d finally get ‘his baby brother’
For years, the sweet little redhead from Massachusetts had asked his mother, Jessica Marotta, when they’d expand their family. 𝐽𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑐𝑎 ℎ𝑎𝑑 𝑠𝑢𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑏𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑒, so she was reluctant to get Mikey’s hopes up too high. After suffering a 𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑔𝑒 in early 2017, the family had almost decided to accept that having another child wasn’t in the cards for them.
“We would just tell him when it was the time it would be time,” Jessica told 𝑃𝑂𝑃𝑆𝑈𝐺𝐴𝑅. She quickly grew to rely on the phrase “someday, buddy” after fielding questions for a few years. Jessica realized she could still be happy with a family of three after talking to her husband one evening.
But all changed in the summer of 2017 when Jessica learned she was pregnant with a son for the second time. Although she and her husband were both scared and delighted by the news, no one was more ecstatic than their kid Mikey.
“He was so thrilled he was finally getting his baby brother,” said Jessica. “He could not wait for him to arrive and would talk about all the things he was going to do with him. He would pick out two things if we went shopping for a toy and say, ‘This one is for me and this one is for my baby brother.'”
But unfortunately for the Marotta family, bringing their new bundle of joy home would take them longer than expected. 𝐵𝑎𝑏𝑦 𝐽𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑔𝑛𝑜𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑢𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝑔𝑟𝑜𝑤𝑡ℎ 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 — 𝑎 𝑟𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑎𝑏𝑦 𝑑𝑜𝑒𝑠𝑛’𝑡 𝑔𝑟𝑜𝑤 𝑡𝑜 𝑎 𝑛𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑙 𝑤𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑑𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑔𝑛𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑦 — 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑛𝑒𝑒𝑑𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑑𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑙𝑦 𝑣𝑖𝑎 𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑔𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑦 𝐶-𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛.
Mikey wasn’t permitted to hold his newborn brother until he was 11 days old since Jake was 𝑑𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑦. Mikey, on the other hand, was thrilled despite the delay, especially because Jake had the same red hair like him. “He was very excited, but I think a little nervous,” said Jessica. “He giggled the whole time.”
Thankfully, After a very long 60 days in the 𝑁𝐼𝐶𝑈, Jake was finally strong enough to come out of his incubator and officially meet his biggest fan. Jessica captured the moment when Mikey got to hold Jake for the first time, and it’s incredibly moving.
“They cuddle every morning and Mikey LOVES to hold Jake,” said Jessica. “One of their other favorite things to do is lay on Jake’s activity mat together.”
“Mikey understood how important 𝑠𝑘𝑖𝑛-𝑡𝑜-𝑠𝑘𝑖𝑛 contact was for the baby because we talked often about how it was something he and I did when he was a baby,” Jessica said. Mikey’s eyes flutter closed and he appears to be an incomplete pleasure when they unzip his shirt and lay his teeny small sibling against his naked flesh.
“He was emotional and nervous, too,” said Jessica. “He giggled the whole time — it was so sweet.
“I truly think that they will be close for the rest of their lives,” Jessica said. “I feel like Mikey knew in his heart all along this little brother of his was coming — it was just a matter of time.”
