It's hard work being 10 (days old)

Actually, I don't know if I'm 10 days old, or negative 3 months, but either way it's tiring being this small.

Don't get me wrong, I appreciate a little bit of hard work now and then, it's just that I don't think my parents agree, and I'm worried about them.

Take yesterday for example - I had been relaxing most of the day when my parents came and visited me. I had just had an x-ray that revealed some developing lung and I thought it would be a good time to demonstrate how well it works.

Okay, so maybe it was a bit early to be showing off, because as soon as mom and dad got there things didn't go too smoothly. Actually, I was breathing just fine, but my heart wasn't ready. You see, there's a duct between the heart and lungs that is supposed to close when you're born. Mine hasn't. So after working my lungs hard to get oxygen in my blood, that blood would just flow back and forth between my heart and lungs and wouldn't circulate.

Sorry for all the complicated details. If you're curious, Dr. Simmons said to look up PDA on the internet.

Anyway, I tried to show off to my parents, and the nurse had to kick them out after a few minutes because she couldn't get things under control.

I'm sure we'll all laugh about it later, but you should've seen their faces! They were as white as hospital walls and I could hear their hearts pounding from the waiting room.

Things are under control now and I'm taking some medicine to close that PDA. It shouldn't be long now. I'm just glad my parents kept coming back to see me, and that I didn't scare 'em off for good!

And I'm REALLY glad that I have so many people praying for me. Some of the doctors and nurses are sometimes baffled by how well things are going for me, some hesitate to attribute my progression to Heavenly Father, and some know exactly why I'm doing so well. I think I've been doing a pretty good job of showing 'em all what miracles look like.

I love you all!

Marshall