Love Letters from Dad

After supporting Kelly through more than 24 hours of labor, Faysash sat down and honored the moment by writing her an alluring love note. "When you take the time to do something like that—to compose your thoughts into a letter—it means something special," he says.

After she had rested, he gave her the letter and a gold necklace he bought days earlier. Faysash stayed in the hospital and slept in the room with Kelly. He also kept a journal. "I chronicled the whole experience in the hospital and what an emotion high it was when Jack was born," he says. "I wrote down everything that happened the day Jack was born. It was such an experience watching when he first came out."

Barrie Dolnick, author of How to Write a Love Letter, says women go through a profound physical and emotional experience for nine months. However, the father's pent up emotions do not often materialize until they witness the birth of their son or daughter. "Fathers only witness the transformation but harbor many feelings like awe, excitement, fear, joy," she says. "Writing this down serves as therapeutic for the father and allows the mother to understand the experience from his point of view."

Dolnick also points out the letter will be a wonderful way to relate the past to the baby when he or she grows up. "Parents seem so old and disconnected to adult children, and a letter that shows the mindset and heart of parents in their youth is very revealing," she says.