Our Sweet Liam

We had our little boy December 30th at 9:42 p.m. He weighed 7.9 lbs. (same as Linc) and was 19 1/4 in. long. They were going to c-section me on Jan. 12th but he just couldn't wait till then. When he was born he had a lot more wrong with him that we didn't know about. He has something called Cloacal exstrophy. It is very rare and non of the Doctors knew what was wrong with him. The surgeon came down and looked at him and knew he had to be transfered to Childrens Hospital as soon as they could. So he had the Omphalocele and then the other included all this. He does not have an anus and the area under the omphalocele was all open and everything there was like cut in half and laid open. His bladder, part of his intestine, and colon were also fused together. The front of his pelvis did not form and was also laying open. His little boy stuff was pretty much not there. They did find his kidney and found that there was an obstruction, but both are working great. They rushed him to childrens and when he was only 10 hours old they performed a 9 hour surgery on him. I obviously had to stay at the hospital and our friends had the kids, Jared went to the hospital. Laurance, Julie, and my mom flew in that afternoon so they could all be here for us and help out. Jareds dad went to the hospital to be with him and my mom and Julie went to get the kids. To make a very long story short about his surgery, It went sooooo well. They were able to completely construct a bladder for him, The made a little "boy part" and were able to get and bring down his testicles. It is pretty small but there. He does not have an anus and there for will have a colostomy bag for the rest of his life. His right kidney is working great and connected to his bladder. The left, has that block, but is working GREAT! It is not connected to his bladder so he has it draining into a bag on his left side. They said they would reconnect it when he was about 1. They were able to seperate all the fused parts and put them back together. They brought his pelvis together and banded it. When he is 1 they will have to operate again to fix this. They then were able to close the opening up, except for the Omphalocele. He has some things wrong with his spine and they wont know what it is until later when they can do some scans. They are not sure if he will ever be able to walk or not yet, but they say he will live a long normal (considering) life. He is mentally all there and so very normal.
Because of his extensive surgery they put him in traction, put him on meds that paralize him as well as a ton of pain and other meds. He is on a ventilator but is starting to take breaths on his own. The traction part is where his legs are bound together and hanging in a 90* angle. They don't want him to move because of his pelvis. Today (jan. 8) they just took him off the meds that paralize him and we are hoping to start to see some movement and eventually he will open his eyes. They hope to put all the Omphalocele back in in about a week or so. He is extreamly swollen from all that he has gone through and plus he can't move.
It has been hard to see him like this, but he has blessed our lives more than he will ever know. Every day I see him I fall deeper and deeper in love with this extraordinary little boy. He is my hero. Thank you sooooo much for all your prayers and support through this difficult time. I will try to post updates often. We love you all.

Liam in Traction and paralyzed

You can see the Omphalocele on his little belly. It has gone down a lot since he was born. When they are able to put it all back in, then they will make him a little belly button.


He has the cutest little toes!!!


Most of his wires and monitors, actually its only about half. He has so many.

35 week belly and update

As the months go by I keep getting bigger and bigger. This is the biggest I have been with any of my kids and I still have like almost a month left!!!! I'm doing fine other than the normal end of pregnancy complaints. Nothing has changed with the baby as far as we know. It's still just a waiting game. We keep praying that he will stay in the "oven" until the scheduled C-section on Jan. 12th. We have decided on a name, Liam Swearingen Smith. He is going to be such a cute kid!

Family Pictures......Fianlly

So I have been wanting family pictures for almost three years now. I finally just set up the tripod and took them. I didn't want to pay to have them done since Im like 9 months pregnant!! The kids were actually way into it and had a ton of fun!
The kids are so excited for christmas, as most kids are and Jared and I are excited to have our first Christmas as a family and start some of our own traditions. Jared just finished his pediatric rotation and has the next 2 weeks off. He is doing awesome and I am so proud of him.
Avery is still loving pre-school and playing with friends. She loves making cards and drawing pictures for everyone. At night we rock in the chair and talk about whatever is on her mind. It has been quit interesting some nights.
Lincoln is such a boy. He loves his trains and his cars. He loves to jump all over jared and watch football with him. I can't wait until he is old enough to go to a game with his dad!
I am still pregnant and so thankful that I am. I have been so blessed to have this little boy and the family that I have. I have been making bows and my new love is makeing baby shoes! Jared thinks I am crazy, but I am such a project person and need them to keep my hands busy!
We love and miss you all during this holiday time, but will see you soon. Merry Christmas!

Little Drummer Boy

Lincoln has been wanting to play the drums ever since we started playing rock band with our friends. He finally got to do it and was so serious about it and totally into it!

Lincoln

Lincoln will just play until he passes out where ever he is! He is such a cute kid! He fell asleep under his bed one night playing with his trains, and then at the top of the stairs with his cars, then on the couch watching cartoons. I just love this kid!

Thanksgiving

We had Thanksgiving with some of our med-school friends and it was sooo much fun. I have to say that it will be one of my most memorable Thanksgivings yet! The kids ran around and played and we all ate until we were sick!

Linc's Big Boy Bed

Lincoln got a new big boy bed while my family was here and he LOVES it!!!! We got his train set all set up for him underneath it and he play's under there all the time.