February 3

When I was pregnant with my son I joined an online baby board to connect with women who were due the same general time as me. One woman in the group learned her son had a disease called CDH. I don't remember what CDH stands for, but basically her little guy was born with only 20% of his abdomen. When this happens the other organs move up into the chest cavity and cause the lungs to not develop correctly. Little E was born with all his "guts" in his chest and has had several surgeries to get everything back in place and to "grow" an abdomen.

Because of the lack of lung development, this little guy has had oxygen for his entire life, and has been intabated (sp). Because of the tubes helping him breathe, he's not been able to talk. Until recently. Now that he's older, they have been able to add something to his tubes (again, forgive me for not knowing the technical terms) and with a push of a button, he has a voice. His mom shared his babble with us today on a video. I cried because it is just so wonderful to see this little guy so excited to hear his own voice. His mom has shared so much with us on their journey, all of us on this board have a special place in our hearts for this little man. It was so great for his mom to share the video with us today.