HAPPY MAXDAY!! (Slideshow at the bottom)

Wow! At 9:58 this morning Claire and I were given the best present we have ever gotten. Maximus Evan Griffin was born at 6 lbs and 10 oz. We didn't get a length measurement because they rushed him off to get intubated right away. Let's run through how the day went...

Claire and I woke up at about 5 am this morning and just hang out for a bit because we knew that we didn't need to check in to the hospital until 7:30. We talked, prayed, and just sat around feeling excited for what was about to happen. At 7:20, we left to go check in and get this ball rolling.

Claire, her mom, and myself got to the hospital and sat around FOREVER. Seriously. It felt like an eternity just waiting for the next person to come in. Finally, Dr. Kays came in and said it was time. Claire was wheeled out into the O.R. to be prepped for her C-Section. After about 20 minutes, I was called in and we got things going.

I sat next to Claire's head and about 25 different doctors, residents, attendings, surgeons, students, interns, dancers, florists, and every other type of person pranced around the room. Claire looked over at one of the doctors and asked "You are going to tell me when you are going to start cutting, right?" and he looked at us and said "Um...we are almost done." Whoops!

This is where it gets fun for us...everyone in the room got quiet and turned to watch the doctors work on Claire. We heard "Baby is out!" and then the sweetest little whimpers and cries you have ever heard. I lost it and started crying right there with Claire. Max wasn't supposed to cry!!! We were told that we wouldn't be able to hear anything, but God had a different plan for him!

They immediately rushed him over to a table to my left and began to intubate him. Dr. Kays was standing there with the interns and students as he took care of our newborn son and showing them how it was done. They intubated him, and then invited me over to cut the umbilical cord. I cut the cord, and Dr. Kays and Max were on the way OUT the door!

He was rushed into NICU 3 here at Shands and Dr. Kays and his team spent about 2 hours getting all of his tubes and things ran so he would be stable. I was able to go down with my mother in law and see him while Claire recovered from the surgery.

OH MY GOSH. I seriously wanted to die. He is SOOOOO little. He is SOOOOO precious. He is SOOOOO my SON. Holy cow. I now feel like a dad, and I really could not be more blessed. God is SO wonderful.

We asked the nurse that was checking him over right then what was going on, and she explained that Max was doing about as perfect as they could ask! His CO2 levels were low. His pressure on the ventilator wasn't high and pushing too hard. He was a little frisky and didn't like all the tubes down his throat, but he was seriously kicking some serious CDH butt!! Claire is about to be able to head down to see him for the first time, so I am going to be with her for a bit. I will update more as things progress. He may be able to have surgery as early as TOMORROW.

Thank you all SOOOO much for your prayers, thoughts, emails, comments, Facebook messages, everything. You are all so wonderful and we appreciate you so much! Here are some pictures of what happened today!