If you’ve been following along with my nephews story since I shared his maternity portraits in January, then hopefully you know about his heart condition. The short story, he was born with a heart condition called Tetrology of Fallot which would result in him having to have open heart surgery within his first year of life. Well, I am ecstatic to report that on May 22nd our little man went in for surgery and a few hours later his God send of a pediatric heart surgeron came out to give the news that the surgery went excellently. At this point the plan was for Hudson to be in the PICU at University of Maryland Medical Center for seven to ten days. Four days post-op, his doctors released him from the hospital and sent him home because he was doing so well. He has continued to thrive in the three weeks since that incredibly scary day and has proven over and over again that he wasn’t going to let a little heart condition keep him down. My sister, Kayleigh, had requested that after his surgery we take some pictures of him to capture this major milestone and also document what his new little chest looks like with his new scar. She wants him growing up with pride in that scar and not to be ashamed of it. So that’s exactly what we did, we documented this sweet amazing boy and his new look. I personally am head over heels in love with every image, especially his chair portraits!

We all wonder what his thought was in this picture…

“You won’t belive what they did to me in the OR.”
“You wouldn’t believe how they take out chest tubes.”
“I kicked that TeTs butt!”

I mean really?! Could he be any cuter?!

For mother’s day, Mitch gave Kayleigh a necklace with the pattern of Hudsons’s heart beat at his birth. Post surgery, his heart beat has changed. He has a new heart beat, a stronger and healthier heartbeat. One to sustain him in life, but the necklace stands as a reminder that that first heartbeat brought him through 9 months in utero, brought him into this world and carried him through his first 3 months of life. It might have been perfect and super healthy but that heart beat gave us this incredible man!