Mikey Marotta, a young child, has always desired a younger sibling. After experiencing ꜰᴇʀᴛɪʟɪᴛʏ problems and a ᴍɪsᴄᴀʀʀɪᴀɢᴇ, the baby’s mom, Jessica, thought this dream would never come true.
“We had an intimate conversation one night and decided we would be happy as a family of three. When Mikey asked us when he was going to have a little brother we explained that some families are only made up of 3 people and that is fine. He cried and said, ‘it’s okay if I don’t have a brother, I have Dillinger, our dog’”.
In the summer of 2017, Jessica received incredible news: she was pregnant.
“When Mikey found out he cried and was very happy. But he wasn’t surprised or overexcited when he found out it was a boy. “
He said, ” Of course I’m going to have a little brother, that’s what I asked for.”
“For Halloween, during trick or treat, he talked about all the costumes he could wear with his little brother. He had a lot of plans. Every time he had a new one or two he would say: I keep this aside for my little brother”.
Mikey’s little brother arrived 9 weeks early and spent 60 days in the ɪɴᴛᴇɴsɪᴠᴇ ᴄᴀʀᴇ ᴜɴɪᴛ.
Jessica was ᴅɪᴀɢɴᴏsᴇᴅ so he was closely monitored at the hospital where he was given an ᴇᴍᴇʀɢᴇɴᴄʏ ᴄᴇsᴀʀᴇᴀɴ.
“The first time Mikey saw Jake in the ɪɴᴛᴇɴsɪᴠᴇ ᴄᴀʀᴇ ᴜɴɪᴛ, he stared at him and was overwhelmed and nervous. The first thing he said was: he has red hair like me”.
“We explained to him what each ᴛᴜʙᴇ and ᴡɪʀᴇ each bee and alarm meant. Mikey understood how important skin-to-skin contact was for the baby because we often talked about how he and I did it when he was a baby.”
When Mikey was able to hold Jake after 11 days, he put on a shirt to keep him close to his chest.
The skin-to-skin contact between the brothers was a success and now the two brothers are very close.
“When Jake hears Mikey’s voice his little head turns to look at him. Mickey was the first one Jake smiled at and the only one who can make Jake smile.”
“Mikey tells Jake he loves him and sings him songs he makes up, tells him things like: you’re part of me and I won’t let anything bad happen to you, plus he keeps a picture of his brother in his wallet.”
“I feel like Mikey knew, in his heart, that his brother was coming and it was only a matter of time.”
“Arriving at Jake’s house was one of the happiest days of our life. I feel honored to witness their love. Their bond is extraordinary and every now and then my husband and I want Jake to look at us the way Mikey looks, it’s like they’re meant to be brothers. Mikey is an amazing older brother and having Jake brought calm to his way. Mikey has his own way of calming Jake when he’s upset”.
