Our Million Dollar Max ;)

Max is continuing to do well and is growing. Tonight he weighed 5 pounds 9 oz  and was 17 3/4 inches long. He is continuing to work on eating, and on Friday we took turns dipping a binkie in milk, and putting it in his mouth so he becomes excited and familiar with the positives of eating by mouth. I can imagine it being quite scary for him when he chokes so we are trying to make eating as positive as possible.  OTPT has continued to work on him eating from a bottle, though he never eats more than a few ml at a time he is doing so well at it. He is showing signs of wanting to eat, and is actually quite aggressive with getting it into his mouth, (OTPT jokes it reminds her of a shark attack!) once he gets it into his mouth he struggles to remember to swallow and/or breathe.
He has recently begun to have a hard time with reflux, and they weren't sure if it was because of one of his medications, or if it was legit reflux so they have discontinued his medication to try. The medication they were giving him was a stimulant to help his body remember to breathe on its own. Ah...the circle of it all. :)
Sort of like the circle of his high-flow cannula. The CCAM means he has a significantly lower lung capacity on his right side, so he needs a HFNC (high-flow nasal cannula), HFNC means he can't eat on his own (the nurse explained it like running up several sets of stairs and then trying to drink a glass of water--yikes!) BUT the more he eats, the bigger he gets and the bigger he gets, the less oxygen he needs (because the bigger his lungs, the less the CCAM impacts his lung) and the less he needs the HFNC.

All things considered Max is doing amazingly well and we actually sent in a request he be transferred back to McKay-Dee. Everyone has signed off on the transfer so far except our insurance. We are really hoping they will sign off on it tomorrow and he can move back to McKay-Dee this week. The fact that the MD, NNP, and surgeon all feel like he is stable enough to move to a lower Level IV NICU makes me so very happy. It would truly be so great to have him within a 40 minute drive, instead of an hour and 40 minutes. We will both be able to spend so much more time with him, and I will even be able to spend a few nights there. Another, less important detail is that we won't be spending so much on gas, as I can honestly say I have never been so poor in my life.

 I try not to look at our bills yet, as so far Max has racked up about 5 houses worth thus far. We have begun to call him 'Million Dollar Max' and with his surgery he may end up going over that amount. Thankfully we have insurance, so we don't actually have to PAY that much. It will be a nice nickname for him, and oh the stories he can tell. I'm pretty sure he will kick butt at the 'Two Truths and a Lie game' when he grows up! :)

I again am so grateful for the prayers, the kindness, the support, and the love we have felt from everyone. I look around at the NICU and am grateful for how well he is doing and all the health problems and complications he doesn't have, and I truly believe it is because of all the support we have gotten from everyone. I know he wouldn't be doing as well as he is, and be stable enough to move closer to home without it.