Jack’s Jog 5k Run/Walk

05/12/2026

In honor of Jack’s birthday, use code:
Happybirthday to take $10 off your registration!

The code is good for the whole week. Tell your friends!

🎂 🎉

https://runsignup.com/race/wi/lacrosse/jacksjog5k?fbclid=IwVERDUARwEQpleHRuA2FlbQIxMABzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAo2NjI4NTY4Mzc5AAEex015imblcn31IYmeqY-449kXiApO7fczJbOByyAD4TnXxXAmP3_BYELQyoI_aem_PDhaKrFhzXZ168GOpu6nPg

The Jack’s Jog 5k is on Saturday October 3, 2026.

05/12/2026

Today, Jack would be 6.

Today, we celebrate the sweet boy who never got to come home. We remember his little face and how it felt to hold him.

Jack’s birthday always makes me extra grateful for all of my coworkers who took the best care of all of us that day. They came in extra for us. They stayed late after their shift was over (since I’m a labor and delivery nurse too, naturally I had a shift change delivery). They washed Jack’s hair, gave us the sweetest foot and handprints. They were there.

Celebrate Jack with us today by doing something nice for someone else. Have a piece of cake. Hug your people.

Happy birthday, Jack! 💙

05/01/2026

Good luck to all the racers at the La Crosse marathon this weekend! Be sure stop by our table at packet pick up and grab a flyer with a code for discounted registration!

04/22/2026

While Jack’s story is sad and difficult to imagine (trust me, sometimes I still can’t believe this happened to us), Jack’s Jog is not a somber event. We do cry, reminisce and wonder “what if.” But it’s so much more than that.

It’s a place for people to find support and feel safe to share their own stories. It’s a place for people to say their baby’s name and know they are in the company of others who are on the same journey.

Here are just a few things you can expect at Jack’s Jog:

🦋 🫧 Bubbles! All of the race packets have a container of bubbles. They’re not just for the kids, you know!

🦋 Sidewalk chalk-let your inner artist shine throughout Myrick Park!

🦋 🎈 Balloons-obviously

🦋 Photo ops- NEW this year-we will have a photo backdrop for everyone to use! 📸

🦋 Beautiful scenery-Jack’s Jog takes you through the marsh at Myrick where there’s always something to see.

Be sure to check back for more fun things we have planned for this year!

04/17/2026

We will have a table at this family fun event tomorrow where you can sign up for Jack’s Jog and get some goodies!

Hope to see you there!

04/13/2026

It was somewhere around this time in 2020 that we made our plans for Jack for after he was born. We still had no idea when he would come, and what if he would still have a heartbeat when he did. I was terrified that if he were born alive, he would be in pain and suffer. We wanted to make sure he was going to be as comfortable as possible. Plans were made that if this were the case, we would be set up in a hospital room where we would spend our time with Jack. We met with hospice and had a plan for them to take care of him and keep him safe and comfortable.

We also had to make our plans for if the opposite happened. If he passed away before he was born. My good friend, Emily, who also happens to be an organizer of Jack’s Jog, was the social worker at the hospital at that time. We knew each other through work situations but became close while she helped us with Jack.

Emily is the one who told me that we should call the funeral home and make arrangements before Jack was here because it would be easier to do ahead of time rather than waiting until after. She was always one step ahead of me and knew what I needed before I did most of the time.

So, we contacted a local funeral home and set up a time to meet with the funeral director and make arrangements. This is the only part of Jack’s story that I really don’t remember very well. I remember walking into the funeral home and sitting down with a catalog of urns, but that’s it. Maybe it’s my brain’s way of protecting me from remembering choosing my baby’s urn. Nobody should ever have to make that decision. But like too many other families, we did. Brad and I chose to have Jack cremated so we could bring him home.

It’s been six years since Jack’s story began and there still is not a day that he is on my mind every single second. This time of year especially brings out all of those raw feelings and emotions and I’m still learning how to cope with them.

There is a physical pain in my heart comes back with a vengeance randomly, and always around this time.

This post got really long, so if you made it to the end, thank you for reading ❤️

04/03/2026

Because of the amazing support from our sponsors and participants in 2025, we were able to donate books to MCHS La Crosse for parents and kids who have been affected by perinatal and infant loss in honor of Jack.

📕 The books pictured below were so helpful to our family throughout our journey and I hope they can help make a small impact on other families as well. We will keep adding to the hospital’s stash so every family gets the support they need.

💎 Jack’s brothers and sister also helped make MANY sun catchers like the one pictured. These are such a small item but something parents can keep forever to remember their baby.

Other things Jack’s Jog will support include community events organized by the hospitals such as the Walk to Remember and Candlelight Memorial Service.

🏃‍♀️ don’t forget to sign up for Jack’s Jog 2026 and keep checking back for the fun new things we will have for you this year!

03/21/2026

We never had maternity photos taken with the older two boys. I always figured we would have good pictures when the baby is born. But with Jack, we knew our time was limited. We were up against the clock and had no idea when the end of my pregnancy with him would be.

A friend of mine got me connected with a photographer, Sarah Petersen, in La Crosse who owns p.s. I Love You. She gifted us with these amazing photos when I was about 26ish weeks pregnant with Jack. (Look at that sparkly dress she had for me to wear, too!)

People often ask if it was hard to smile for these. Yes, it was. But we wanted to make as many memories as we could with Jack while we still had him. His little heart was still beating strong for these pictures and it was so important to us to remember him like that. I cherish these pictures every day.

02/20/2026

Jack’s Story:

There were so many feelings and emotions circulating through my mind after making the decision to continue our pregnancy, to name our baby Jack.

We wondered if we made the right decision. We had two other little boys at home we had to think about. How were we going to explain to them that the baby in mommy’s belly wasn’t going to survive? That this baby would never come home. As adults, we couldn’t even make sense of it. How were a 4 year old and a 2 year old going to figure this out?

I felt myself becoming so disconnected from Jack. I think deep down I thought it would hurt less if I didn’t bond with him. But I also knew that wasn’t right. He was still there.

When I talked this over with someone, she suggested I start talking to Jack. To put my hand on my belly and just start talking. I thought that this couldn’t hurt anything and I was willing to try. So that’s what I did. I rested my hand on my belly that wasn’t really growing anymore and told my baby boy how much I loved him. I told him how sorry I was that this was happening to him. I prayed he wasn’t having any pain and he could feel our love.

Jack didn’t move around very much due to his condition and his size, but when I talked to him I believe I felt him give me a little tap telling me that he heard me and he loved me too.

We continued our little chats throughout the pregnancy. I also started keeping a journal in which I wrote letters to Jack. It was such a therapeutic way for me to cope with my grief and sadness.

As for Sawyer and Carson, we got some books from the social worker and child life specialists. We took their advice of being honest and just telling them that the baby would not be coming home. As you can imagine, at their ages at the time, they really didn’t understand. They just knew their mom and dad were very sad and the baby was very sick. We kept the subject open with them since we found out. They knew then and still know they can ask questions whenever they want.

Not only were we learning to cope with our grief and how to move forward, the pandemic was rearing its ugly head and the world was about to shut down.

Again, thanks for reading. Until next time.
🦋 ❤️

01/29/2026

Jack’s Story:

Six years ago, I was a little over 20 weeks pregnant with Jack. I remember feeling so good-the best I had felt with any of my pregnancies at that stage. I was working out, eating healthy, not gaining as much weight as I had with the first two pregnancies. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind that we were going to have another healthy baby. I also had a good feeling this one wasn’t going to be almost 10 pounds like the first two! 😬

It turns out I was very wrong. On 1/27/20, we went in for our regular anatomy scan and saw a perfect little baby on the screen with a strong little heartbeat.

After the ultrasound, my midwife looked at me and with tears in her eyes she said “it’s not good Jamie.” She told us that there were multiple findings in the ultrasound that did not appear normal. Our baby was small. The chest was an abnormal shape. Some toes were fused. The radiologist hadn’t ever seen this before.

The shock, disbelief and devastation Brad and I felt in that moment is indescribable. There’s no way this was possible.

We waited four long days before we were seen in Rochester with MFM, more ultrasounds, a fetal echocardiogram to look at the baby’s heart, and lab work. We were there from 8am to 4pm.

The look on the doctor’s face that day is forever burned into my brain. He said without an amniocentesis, his professional opinion based on the ultrasounds was that our baby had either Trisomy 18, a form of skeletal dysplasia, or Triploidy. “No matter what it is, it’s fatal. Your baby will not survive.”

We decided to go ahead with an amniocentesis that day so we could get a definitive diagnosis. The doctor told us we needed to decide if we were going to continue the pregnancy. Because of the timing and how far along I was, we had a matter of days to make these life changing decisions.

Three days later, we got the phone call from the geneticist. Our baby had Triploidy: any entire extra set of chromosomes.

“Not compatible with life.”
“Fatal.”
“Your baby will not survive.”
“No idea how much time you have.”

I never imagined I would be faced with such decisions. Things that I had always said or thought, “I could never do that. I would never end a pregnancy.” Now that decision was my reality. I had two other kids to take care of. My health was at higher risk because of this diagnosis.

Babies with Triploidy are almost always miscarried in the first trimester. It was so unusual our baby had made it that far into the pregnancy. We knew he was strong. We knew he deserved a chance.

We chose to continue the pregnancy. It wasn’t up to us to decide. It was at that time that we chose the name Jack for our sweet boy.

If you’ve made it through all of that (which is actually just the beginning), thank you for reading. I’ve always been very open about our story and just hope we can help someone else by sharing.

More to come 🤍🦋