Max wakes up and Claire takes a NAP.

Hey all you Max-fans! I thought I'd give you an update...

Last night was our version of a "dip" for Max. What I mean is, his dip was not too bad, so don't sound the alarm. However, his Co2 levels got a bit high, and his O2 got a little low. When we arrived at the hospital after breakfast to say good morning, the Nurse Practitioner was raising his oxygen from 40% to 50%, and raising his respirator assistance just a bit to 75 bpm (breaths per min). Something that they saw in an x-ray was fluid building in the chest cavity, just as we were warned would be a possible negative side effect. Because of this, they started Max on Lasiks, a diuretic, to help him pass some of the fluids he was holding. HOLY COW did Max let go of fluid!!! Normal peeing for Max is about 7-11cc's per hour, and he's been doing great maintaining that. Today from noon-8pm he peed just under 500cc's. For all you basic math fans, that's 62.5 cc's/hour!! I kid you not, the baby looked like a water balloon that had a hole popped in it...his face, arms, legs, ALL got skinnier haha! Jordan and I both agreed he looked more like Max again; we hadn't realized how swollen he had gotten. So, we will wait for another x-ray to see if that fixed the fluid build up, but the respiratory therapist said it's extremely likely if that much fluid was passing.

Here he is this morning, before Lasiks. I don't think he looks too puffy here actually. There's a window right behind him in his new spot, so he gets real sunshine in the morning! :) I realllly love this picture. The nurses rotate him all day so he's not sore just on his back.

Another VERY COOL story for you! The respiratory therapist came by tonight around 9m (we are there...a lot.) to do another blood gas check (for Co2 levels, etc), and said that the day of Lasiks had vastly improved all his numbers. So, everything from last night being dippy is improved to better than before. Now, if that holds stable and the underlying cause of the "dip" is resolved, they can resume weaning the O2 and respirator assistance. BUT the cool part: he said that Max's blood test showed he is producing a high number of antibodies, which pretty much wont or can't happen without treatment such as giving antibiotics, etc. SO, thank you God! Little Miracles! :) I think God just gave Max some free antibiotics to make sure he got through his slump okay!

That's the summary on the medical side. On the mommy side, he is starting to stir and wake up a bit now because they've been cutting back his fentynol and versad, which are the pain killer and sedatives. Being more alert helps him to breath and heal on his own better. The perks to that for ME are that he opens his eyes and looks at us now. It just KILLS me! He looks so sweet and sleepy I just melt. Having his eyes open up felt like I was meeting him again for the first time, because it connected me to him even more. He has super dark blue eyes (like all babies, I know), so we will see what he gets since Jordan has blue eyes, and so does my dad. Maybe there's enough blue-eyed power in the genes for it to stick! I hope so.

The nurse gave us a preemie pacifier tonight to let him chew on a bit, because he chomps on his respirator tubes. He can't get suction because the roof of his mouth has tubes on it, but he seems to like "gumming" it and licking it. It's pretty stinkin' cute.

We brought an Ipod dock in to play music for him! Jordan found these cd's called Rock-a bye baby, which takes regular music and turns it into lullaby sounding music! We have everything from the Beatles and Beach Boys to Metallica and Coldplay. It's so cool because there's no lyrics, and it's super soft and sweet sounding, they just use the melodies from the songs. That way, the nurses and us can listen to music with him that wont overwhelm him, but it's not cheesy or obnoxious music. Pretty neat discover on Jordan's part.

Lastly, I actually took a nap today! Whoa!! I have been hanging by a thread for a week now, being that I pump every two and a half/three hours, on top of a C-section, being away from home, and watching my BABY in the nicu. Little daily meltdowns have been taken in stride by my ammmmazing husband, but something's gotta give! I crashed hard today, and it felt great. I think I may take one of these nap things every day! :)

Oh, this is the REALLY last thing...I am not "producing"!!? (BOYS now is your chance to stop reading...sorry) Seriously. No breast milk from this cow. Just a couple Ml's every three hours. I am going to call the lactation consultant tomorrow and see what I can do. I've heard it all, but it's been 7 days now, and even for a c-section, things should be progressing by now. I am drinking literally about 3-4 liters of water a day, trying to focus on a pic of Max during, I have his little hat that smells like him (I know that sounds creepy...), I do a little massage first to try to help let down, my pump fits properly, blah blah... but I think the mini-depression and sleep deprivation take their toll. So we shall see what this LC has to say. Feel free to say a booby prayer though! :)

Thanks again SO much for praying for our little wild thing, he is doing REALLY really well, better than most CDH kids do. God is GOOD!

Love,
Claire