Max is 3 weeks old!

Max's first smile to be captured on camera. He is lounging in his boppy on his Daddy's lap.
Tim and I are very excited to announce that Mr. max came off of his oxygen yesterday! He is doing awesome with his breathing and keep his oxygen saturation where it needs to be. Max's resident stopped by his bedside yesterday to let us know that his lungs are looking VERY encouraging! He is such a little fighter. We are so excited to see his cute little (chubby) face without the nasal cannula in his nose.

Max is also up to 2 full ounces of breast milk as well. He was having difficulty keeping it all down so the doctors decided to feed him with a pump that would feed him over the course of an hour (he is now down to a half hour). The speech therapist and occupational therapist were there today to start him on bottle feeds, but Max got the hiccups and was breathing a little too fast so they didn't want to risk the chance of the milk "going down the wrong pipe." They gave him a little bit of a taste by placing a few drops on his pacifier and he seemed to enjoy that. We will try this again tomorrow!

As for Max's kidneys, we are still playing that oh-so-lovely game of wait and see. His levels went up drastically and an ultrasound showed that is left kidney was holding a little more urine than it should have been. They decided to try placing a catheter (just the tubing) into his vesticostomy to see if it would drain any better. This is basically just making the opening in his bladder a little bigger for the urine to flow out. He will have another ultrasound on Wednesday to see if it's any better. They will also be checking his levels again. If things are not better, then dialysis will probably be started sooner rather than later. I did have a meeting with one of the nephrologist (kidney doc) and he went over the long term effects for kids with chronic kidney disease, all of the meds that he will be on while on dialysis, the risks that are associated with the type of dialysis he will be doing, transplant options, etc. It's a lot of info, but one of the more important pieces of info is that they usually only accept adult kidney donors (live donors. The only way they will take a child's kidney is if that child had passed away. This is another reason why we need Max to get big and strong, so that they can fit an adult kidney into his little body. They won't do a transplant until he is about 16-25 pounds or so. The bigger the better!

Max is also going through physical therapy to try and loosen up his hip and foot muscles. He likes to keep his ankles crossed because that is how he was "stuck" in the womb. His right hip is also turned in a little, so they are trying to work that. If this doesn't work, then he will have to wear a splint for a little while. Obviously, this is the least of our worries.

One more big deal for the week is that Max has graduated to a big boy crib! He is no longer in the "incubator" looking bed :o) He is also becoming a lot more alert and staying awake for an hour or more at a time.

I believe that is it for now. Enjoy his 3 weeks pictures! He gets cuter every day :o)

Max without his nasal cannula!!!!
Max and Mommy had just spent an hour cuddling. He was breathing a little fast before I picked him up and it slowed down as soon as I layed him on my chest. He is such a cuddlebug. He looked so cute when I layed him back in bed :o)