And He's Here

Maxwell Chad McEachern completed our family on Friday May 20th at 1:04pm. He weighed in at 8 lbs 11 oz and was 21 inches long. 

*Sorry it has taken me so long to post an update... I have been busy recovering, pumping, visiting the NICU and spending time with Luke and Molly.*

The c-section went fairly smoothly. The chief resident and the attending OB were rockstars and got this little guy out and sewed me up fairly quickly with no complications.

This is Max in the operating room (OR) with his complex Pediatric team. Shortly after my Cesarean section started a team of about ten doctors and nurses flooded the OR to help little Max. This team consisted of neonatologists, cardiologists, residents, fellows and nurses. He was deemed stable enough that I was able to see him for a few minutes in the OR before they took him to the NICU.

Straight out of the OR they took little Max to the level IV NICU and hooked him up to several monitoring devices (Heart rate, Oxygen saturation, blood pressure, etc) and put in his umbilical arterial line (UAC) and and intravenous line (IV) in his arm. After having two intravenous lines fail, they decided to give our little guy a PIC (peripherally inserted catheter) line. Within the first few hours of being born they performed an ECHO on his heart and did scans of the rest of his body. The ECHO pretty much confirmed the same heart defects that were diagnosed in utero (DORV, TGA, and a large VSD). The good new is our little guy has been really stable and thriving. We have been pleasantly surprised that he is not on any medications or oxygen. He has been doing so well that we have been able to hold him and even give him pumped breast milk. Originally we didn't know if his heart could handle the extra blood flow to his gut in order to process the breast milk but he is eating like a champ. This kid is already our little fighter! I know we are bias but he is so precious (and chubby). Both Brad and I think he looks a lot like his sister Molly but I keep calling him Luke!

Big sister x 2 

Daddy

Hi Everyone!

After talking to the CVICU (Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit) team this morning we are are hoping to get a surgery date by Wednesday. It is looking like he might have his open heart surgery either Thursday or Friday of this week or sometime the following week. Because he is doing so well it puts him lower down on the priority list for surgery. This little guy has already been such a blessing to our family and we thank you all for the prayers and sweet messages. Keep the prayers coming...