Sunday, January 20, 2013

The amount of support we have had since Maks' birth is truly remarkable. The blog alone gets 500-600 views per day, at least! I like to think that number translates into prayers, which means Maks is getting lots of prayers on his behalf. We have also been blessed with lots of yummy meals, Facebook messages, and phone calls and texts. I am so behind in responding to people, so please forgive me if you have messaged me and haven't heard back!

Someone friended me on Facebook whom I have never even met. It turns out her grandma is Arlene Hubble, who has lived next door to my grandma Joy for years and is a dear friend to our family. Her name is Shanna Masuisui, and her sons, Carson and Lincoln, wrote the sweetest letters to Maks. Their mom took a picture of them and posted them on Facebook. These sweet boys have never even met him, and yet they are praying for him! Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers. I know they help Maks, and I am sure they are also giving Logan and me the strength to get through this.





Maks is having another slowly-progressing day. I guess his Anderson tube got pulled out slightly, so it was in his esophagus instead of his stomach. Because of this, the air in his stomach was still there, as it had no where to go. In an effort to just clear things out and get things moving, the doctor advanced the tube back into his stomach, and ordered the Anderson to be put on low intermittent suction to help evacuate the air.

They didn't restart the breast milk today, and he is still on the ultraviolet bili lights for elevated bilirubin. Since he is getting TPN (total parenteral nutrition), which is nutrition given through an IV, his digestive system isn't being stimulated. This causes something called cholestasis, which is basically a decrease in the flow of bile (since the digestive system is not stimulating it), leading to elevated levels of serum bilirubin. Hence the need for the UV lights. Okay, so I'm sure you all wanted that physiology lesson. Sorry about that!

Today is his last day of the antibiotics, and they discontinued the Lasix (I didn't even know he was still on a diuretic, but it turns out he was). He had a sweet nurse today who made us a cute little card to take home with a picture of Maks with his eyes open. She also got his hand prints and foot prints on the card. I am sure you can't get a perfect idea of the actual size of them in the picture, but I'll post it anyway so you can see how cute his little hands and feet are.


Also, lots of people have been asking about his weight gain and how big he is now. Today he weighs 720 grams, which is approximately 1 lb 9 oz. when he was born, he weighed 1 lb 2 oz. I know it is kind of hard to imagine his size in the pictures that I post; my sister-in-law took a picture of him today with her finger in his hand, and I think it helps to see him next to something, like a hand, that we can all relate to. He is growing, but he is still pretty darn little!


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