4 months old

Noah is now 4 months old! Where has the time gone?


My little Martian Man


Sitting in his bumbo chair.

Sitting in his high chair for the first time. He thought he was such a big boy.

Not sure he was a fan of rice cereal. A couple of days later I tried again and he gagged several times. Maybe we will give it a little more time.

Noah is very excited for Thanksgiving. He will get to meet Pete's siblings for the first time and spend time with my family.

Follow up with Cardiologist

Today Noah had a follow-up appointment with his cardiologist. Thankfully he was not stuck with a needle one time! They did an EKG and a quick echo. Both showed that he is healing very well and that all the fluid is gone from his chest. As of today he is on no more medication. Babies heal so fast. He is crying less and smiling more everyday.



Snuggling with mom


He LOVES listening to daddy play guitar. I think it is because Pete played for him while I was pregnant.

Not a quality picture, but you can see how big his incision is. Maybe I can get one in better light later.

He even decided to chuckle a little last night. Of course, by the time I got the camera out he was over it.

Noah is healing quickly!

I have some catching up to do. We got back to Abilene yesterday afternoon and we are so glad to back home! What a crazy last two weeks we have had! Noah is doing so much better. He had a quick (but difficult to watch) recovery.
He was in ICU for 4 days because of fluid that had built up in his chest. The doctors told us that they were 99% sure they would have to put a chest tube back in (more pain for Noah), but after a night of praying he was significantly cleared up the next morning. Noah had blood drawn regularly, daily chest x-rays, a echo, and two EKG's while we were there. He is so glad to be able to sleep through the night without people waking him up to poke and prod him. Noah found time to smile even when the day was rough. He has his moments where he feels bad and he lets us know it is time for pain meds, but also smiles and plays with us. He has been through more in his short 3 month life than he ever should have to endure.


First time to be fed orally. Pedialite.


Cuddling with daddy. He loved to be rocked.



One tough little man.

On the cardiac unit we were able to take him on wagon rides, which he loved.

We had a post-op appointment on Wednesday before we were able to come back home. They took more blood, did a chest x-ray, took out his chest tube stitches and took the tape off his incision. He looks so good! It seems that all this has been a little traumatic to him (obviously) and he has been very clingy to me. In the past couple of days he has wanted to eat almost non-stop. At times nursing him is the only thing that keeps him from crying. He would get really upset when laid down on a bed or changing table. However, today seems to be better and I have gotten a little freedom back. We are so relieved this ordeal is past. After dreading it for the past 3 months it is so nice to know the worst is over. I think we will spend the next couple of weeks spoiling him just because we can.

Thanks to everyone for the countless prayers, balloons, flowers, fruit, cards, college fund money, clothes, ornaments, food, hugs, and sweet words. The Hughes family is blessed with amazing friends and family.

Noah's got "Heart"

The last few days have been very eventful for our brave little Noah. We had pre-op on Friday, spent the weekend at the Willis farm with all four grandparents, mommy, and daddy. Stayed at a hotel again on Sunday night and had a 6:30am show for surgery on Monday. The surgery was very successful and Noah is healing faster than average. His heart was corrected without causing more damage. This will hopefully mean that he will not have to undergo further surgeries in the future. These pics start with the night before pre-op.



"Mom, are you kidding me with these huge swim shorts?"


"That is one huge bath tub"


"Get me out of here!"

Ahoy Matie.

His Halloween costume. Next year we will go all out.

Mommy's pirate doing some tummy time.

Getting ready for Church

Noah is wondering why he had to get up so early, but then quickly decided it was worth it to be spoiled by all his grandparents.

"Um, excuse me mommy. Did I hear you say you were taking me to the hospital?"

He tired and hungry but still looked cute in his hospital gown.

This was what he looked like when we first got to see him.

I wanted to hold him so bad!

Noah has been steadily improving. He has drank pedialite and has most recently had some breast milk. At times it seems that he is hurting pretty bad so we hold his hand and stroke his face until he calms down again. When he feels pain he jerks his arms around which makes him hurt worse. He is on a good bit of pain meds and sleeps a lot, but even when he sleeps he squirms around. He looks considerable better today and most of the lines/iv's/etc have been taken off him. He would have been taken out of icu today, but there were no beds available on the cardiac unit. We don't mind having another day of one-on-one nurse care!

Thank you for all the prayers. God answers!