Um...WOW. What a day!!!

Ok. Well, where do we start? My parents flew into Florida last night, and got into Gainesville around midnight. They got to their hotel ok, and went to bed.

At about 8:30 this morning, Claire and I went over to say good morning and have breakfast with them. We had called to check on Max but the nurse was busy and couldn't give us an update on what had happened overnight, so we didn't have anything new to share with them. It was SO good to see my mom and dad. I have not seen them in over 2 weeks and it is a welcome treat to have them here! We finished breakfast and headed over to the hospital.

Before I go into what happened from there, let me just say that this is my parents first grandbaby and we were actually nervous/REALLY excited for them to meet him. As we rode the elevator up to the NICU my mom was literally shaking, she was so excited.

The NICU usually only allows for 2 people to be at bedside at a time, but Claire went into smooth talker mode (usually my job), and they let al 4 of us go back. Claire got in first and as my parents and I were scrubbing in, she came running back and told me...are you ready for this? "Jordan! They said that they are going to extubate Max in 4 days!!!" Are you kidding me?!?! Our little man has seriously been kicking some CDH booty, but this was way more than we were expecting!!!

He was doing so well that Dr. Kays had moved his ventilator settings from 75 breaths per minute down to 40 and lowered the oxygen level as much as he would ever go. They lowered the pressed on the vent too to allow Max to start pushing and breathing more on his own! As he was telling us what he was going to do, Claire just hugged him mid sentence and said "I just love you SO much!" So here is the plan...

Over the next few days, they are going to be pulling blood every 8 hours to make sure that he is getting enough oxygen and getting rid of enough CO2. If the numbers are good, they will lower his vent every day until they remove it completely! This could mean that Claire and I could hold Max for the first time this weekend, possibly! His numbers tonight were really good, so keep praying! If all goes well, we may be able to start heading home in a few weeks!!!!

This has been such a HUGE blessing for us as we were prepared to stay here through October! We are just SO thankful for all of your prayers and support. We are 100% convinced that Max is doing so well because all of you (and mostly God). I will update more on the shenanigans that my family and I caused today at Lake Alice and around Gainsville tomorrow or so. I am just to thrilled by all of this news that I don't want to spoil it. Max is a rockstar. We love you all and as promised, here are some pictures from today: