My son Jackson "Jack" will be 8 months on December 19th. He was born 11 weeks prematurely and spent the first 65 days of his life in the St. Vincent Women's Hospital NICU. Jack was extremely sick for the first few weeks of his life. Not only was he put on a respiratory oscillator, but he had a chest tube put in, a cyst on his lungs, and was diagnosed with hydrocephalus.

At the time the neurosurgeon did not want to do anything invasive and wanted to see if nature could take its course. For awhile it worked, but on August 15th, we had a shunt placed on the right side of Jack's head. This was one of the most difficult decisions my husband and I had to make, but I am so glad we did.

Four hours after his surgery, Jack smiled at me for the very first time. Jack is continuing to do well and amazes my husband and I daily. He receives physical therapy every week for an hour and has made such great strides. He can almost roll himself over from his back to his belly, and is doing a great job on trying to sit up on his own.