Flashback Friday: Baby Adam

In honor of Adam's seventh birthday today, I thought I'd share a few tidbits about Adam that you may or may not know:

• He was born eight days late, a couple hours before my scheduled induction time.

• His APGAR score when he was born was a 2.

This is an embarrassing picture of me to post, but it captured the split second they let me hold
him before whisking him off to the NICU. The next time I held him was 36 LONG hours later.

• He spent a week in the NICU and another week in the hospital a couple weeks later, for respiratory issues from inhaled meconium and the cord being wrapped around his neck.

• He was the only one of my kids to get regular ear infections and had so many in his first 2 years of life, including a burst ear drum at one point, that the ear, nose, and throat specialist said if he got one more then he would need tubes. He hasn't had another infection since that appointment five years ago.

• He had some serious asthma that kept him wheezing through every tiny little sniffle. Nebulizers and inhalers were a regular part of our routine and we thought he was destined to a life of inhalers like his Daddy. A few years ago he suddenly stopped wheezing and we just recently gave away our nebulizer and don't say he has asthma anymore.

• As a baby, Adam NEVER let us set him down. We held him day and night (literally) for the first 15 months of his life. We figured that after the rough start he got in this world, that he just needed a little extra reassurance that things were okay. I have very few memories (or photos) from those exhausting days.

• His smile could always light up a room like no other. It was that smile that got me through those long, exhausting days and nights with a hope that one day that smile would win out over the screams.

• Now he is one of the smiliest, most even-tempered children you will ever meet. Unlike a few other kids we know, his grumpiness episodes are few and far between and never last very long.

• Today he is seven years old and is a shining light in our family. He is thoughtful and self-motivated beyond his years and still has that sparkly smile we can't get enough of.

We love you Adam! Happy Birthday!!

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