So close, I can almost taste it...

Max made great progress yesterday! Steve and I were so discouraged on Sunday because they needed to turn the level on the ventilator up twice. Well, the tests revealed that regardless of what level the ventilator was on his PH level was the same. They decided yesterday to start lowering the ventilator a little at a time to see what happened. He responded great! They got him completely off the nitric oxide last night and then did a trial run of removing the ventilator without actually removing it. Again, he responded great! So this afternoon, the plan is to completely remove the ventilator! It will be a few hours of him proving that he can breathe on his own (with oxygen assistance like he had at home) before they will actually let us hold him.

In addition to this huge accomplishment, Max came off of the morphine yesterday! Believe it or not, they should be able to manage his pain at this point with Tylenol every 4 hours. He did need a little bit last night at one point when he became uncomfortable, but it is no longer continuously going into his system.

They also increased the amount of breast milk he is receiving. He has a feeding tube going into his small intestine. This tube will most likely be in place for 4-5 days and then we should be able to bottle feed him.

We have a little work left after he comes off the ventilator, but it sounds like we should be out of the ICU by the end of the week. They are guessing that he will stay in the Step Down unit for 4ish days. That puts us home roughly 1 week from today. Obviously if Max decides that's not the path he's on, things will change.

How one family can have 2 such strong-willed children baffles me. Speaking of children, Maya is still doing really great with Aunt Danielle. I feel so lucky to have such an amazing sister who Maya is so comfortable with. It really is such a relief to be able to focus on Max and know that she is being taken care of and completely spoiled.

Hopefully the next time you check the blog you will see pictures of us holding Max again!