When Luke was born on November 10th 2003, the nurse said “it’s a girl” and told us the baby was just swollen. He didn’t cry and was blue so they quickly gave him oxygen and sped him away to the NICU. My husband (Josh) went with him. A nurse there told him they were unsure of the sex, but we could raise the baby either way. I didn’t know what was going on, but I knew something wasn’t right because they didn’t bring by baby back and everyone was quiet. I was finally told the doctors wanted to talk to us. Josh just stood there speechless and red eyed. Some doctors and nurses told us they didn’t know if our baby was a boy or a girl, had a cleft palate and a heart murmur then they left us alone. I had never been so scared. It seemed like forever before I got to hold my baby. After a week of blood tests, ultrasounds, cardiac consults, genetics, etc, we were transferred to Egelston Children’s Hospital (Atlanta, GA). Dr. Edwin Smith walked into the room and took one look at our baby and said, “Oh! It’s a boy!” I didn’t think Josh would ever stop shaking his hand! Luke was only 5 pounds, 12 oz. at birth and got down to about 4 pounds because he couldn’t get a good suction on anything. I pumped breastmilk and fed him through and NG tube for about a month and a half until I found the Haberman Feeder. Luke had a seizure at 2 months old and started taking Phenobarbital, along with Zantac for Reflux (which was very bad). He also took Digoxin and Lasic for his heart. Luke had open heart surgery at 4 months old – a VSD repair. After that he was much stronger. At 1 year old he had surgery on his cleft palate and also had tubes in his ears. He’s had tubes in and out 2 times and has moderate hearing loss in both ears. He was hospitalized in March 2005 for RSV for 9 days. He had surgery in August 2006 for “unfinished genitals”. Dr. Erica Mercer at Nemours in Jacksonville, FL performed it and he looks amazing! Luke started walking at 2 years old. He gets PT and ST. He can say “mama” “grandma” “mama look” “watch this” “right there” and his brothers names Elijah (lala) and Judah (uma). He can do signs for “milk” “eat” “all done” “shoes” “more” “rain (twice)” and “thank you”. He has used the potty several times but still wears diapers. After surgery in August, it took a while to get back to normal. He still has a small cleft palate and sneezes out food – especially eggs and chocolate. He will need another surgery to fix it. Luke is a very happy boy and is always smiling. He’s the strongest kid ever. He even smiles when they take blood. I thank God for giving me such a precious gift and humbling me to see what’s really important. I don’t know what the future may hold for Luke, but I believe he will continue to do well. Good luck and God bless all of our boys.   Story Submitted by:jreed1441@knology.net