How old was O'Connell's daughter at the time of the book's publication and how does this fact affect O'Connell's thinking?

At the time when O'Connell finished writing the book Notes from an Apocalypse, his daughter was only nine months old. He describes looking at his beautiful infant daughter and thinking of the word 'refulgence,' which is associated with a brightly-shining light. He states that the feeling he gets when he looks at his infant daughter makes him sure that somehow, everything just may turn out alright.