s + t + me: Talmage Eating His Favorite Pasta + 4 year flashback

Little Man turned FOUR on Saturday!

I am head-over-heels for this little guy.

He is a strong, courageous boy...don't let his adorableness fool you, this kid is TOUGH.

He has been through more medically in 4 years than most people go through in a lifetime.

Four years ago on a Monday morning I checked into a hospital in Philadelphia and was induced. After Talmage was delivered he was whisked into the next room where a team of experts was waiting for him.

Before they whisked him away I heard him cry!

He was alive.

And his lungs worked enough for him to cry!

I got to see him about an hour later. I just remember feeling so grateful that he was alive.

On Thursday he had surgery and his diaphragm was repaired and his organs were moved back where they were supposed to be.

On Sunday, I got to hold little Talmage for 10 minutes!

Wednesday little Sydney turned ONE!

Thursday he was taken off the ventilator. This is what I wrote that day:

Talmage was taken off the ventilator this morning and is breathing on his own! He is doing really well off of it and so far so good! He is not running a temperature any more which is also really great. They are doing an ultrasound on him later today to check out some issues with his stomach and intestines. As long as he continues doing as well as he has been doing today he won't have to go back on the ventilator. He still has the NG tube, but he seems so much happier without the big ventilator tube. I held him for nearly 2 hours this afternoon and he just snuggled in and slept. He can now make sounds although he is really hoarse and when he cries you can barely hear him. I can't imagine how dry his little throat must be.

Friday morning Dr. Liechty called me on my cell phone and said he needed to do exploratory surgery on Talmage that morning because the air in Talmage's stomach was not passing through the rest of his GI tract.

I was so scared. I prayed really, really, really, really hard while Talmage was in surgery. I had thought he was out of the woods just the day before and to think that I could lose him now, I couldn't bear it.

(before surgery #2)

(After surgery. Can you see why we call his scar his shark bite?:)

Wednesday Talmage had his first feed. I wrote this:

Talmage's x-rays looked good and so he was able to have his first taste of milk! I got to feed it to him in a bottle. He chugged all 5cc's of it:). I fed him the colostrum that I pumped 6 hours after he was born. They are starting him out with 5cc's every 3 hours and then around 8pm if he is doing well with that amount they will up it to 10cc's.

& Tyler wrote this: