Maxx Rene' Shuey

Ok, so this is the beginning of my blogging so everyone must bear with me as I learn this. I have set this site up in hopes friends and family will be able to check in to see how are famlily is doing as getting updates to everyone with pictures can be difficult. I am going to try and update this at least every couple of days (or a week) so everyone can stay in touch with our family.

The questions I get asked the most right now (and rightfully so) is about Mr. Maxx. So here we go. He will be the topic of our first post. Please note that the other posts will not be this long (unless something truly amazing happens) I am just trying to get everyone caught up. Some of you may know all of this information already but alot of our friends and family living out of state may not, so just go with the flow!

I guess first off I will explain his name. After realizing that there was a baby in my belly, our daughter Kadence (Kady) starting refering to the baby as Maxx. Let me remind you that we did not find out the gender of him until he was born but still she insisted it was Maxx. We never really talked about using the name Maxx, until he was here. While I was laying in recovery, Wade and I were talking about boys names and no matter what we brought up it just didn't sound right. Kady must of known all along that she was going to get a baby brother because he was meant to be Maxx. My mom had brought up at one point using double "x's" for the name and we both totally loved the idea of it! As for Rene' if you know my father enough said! He is an amazing man and I am so happy that I was able to give my son a little piece of him!

Ok, so back to the details of how he arrived. I went into labor while at dinner at Olive Garden on October 8, 2008 and contractions kept persisting. My brother and Lissa came over to watch the twins while we went to the hospital to get checked out. ( I must of known that something was different, cause I folded my laundry, laid out outfits for the kids and packed a bag to take with me!) When we got there they hooked me up to the monitor and yes I was having contractions about every 5-7 minutes. They gave me a shot of Terbutalyne (that is what they use to stop labor) and they are supposed to give the following 2 doses at 30 minute increments. Well, the side effect of this medication is that it can increase your heartrate. Well it did this and my heartrate was up around 130 so they couldn't give me the next dose. Without giving me these meds, I continues to stay in labor. Well after a long and uncomfortable night, the Dr. on duty the next day decided it was time to do a csection. (They didn't like the fact that I was having consistent contractions and were worried about my previous c-section scar rupturing).

So after waiting a couple more hours and family and friends arriving we went into the operating room and at 1:26pm Maxx Rene' Shuey was born weighing in at 6lbs 5oz and 18.25in long.He initially started crying and I was so excited to hear him, but things turned for the worse quickly. He had severe difficulty breathing and they rushed him to the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit) where they administered an IV, breathing tube and other medications to mature his lungs. I was discharged after 3 days and I think that was the hardest thing I have ever had to do. Leaving the hospital without your baby is an emotional roller coaster I wasn't ready for. We went back as often as we could (mind you we had to have babysitters here to take care of the twins as you have to be 5 years old to visit the NICU and I wasn't able to drive). He eventually developed jaundice and had to be put on a phototherapy blanket and light treatment to get his billirubin in a normal range. (In the next picture the things that are covering his eyes is so the light didn't get to his eyes. It can cause blindness if it does.)

After about 8 days, we went in for our normal night visit and were happy to find our favorite night nurse on duty. She explained that she needed to change his bedding and give him a bath so it was my lucky night....I got to hold him for the first time!

After this it seemed like everytime we went in things got better and better. First he lost the intubation tube and went to just oxygen and then just room air. Then they started feeding him through the tube in his nose, then they alternated with bottle feeding, then I got to start nursing him. He came off of the billi lights and finally on day 11 the Dr. said "Today is the day...he can go home!" I wanted to take him right then...but a few things needed to be done first. We went and got his carseat and packed him up and brought him home!The kids finally got to meet him and it was like they already knew him. He was just a part of our family. Our biggest struggle right now is gaining weight. Today Maxx is 7.5 weeks old and weighs in at 7lbs 9.3oz as of yesterday. The neonatologist has recommended that we put a bit of rice cereal with his night feedings so I will just pump breastmilk for those feedings and mix it with the cereal in a bottle. Hopefully this will solve our problems. Other than that, life is adjusting well around here and I will keep you updated a bit more as I find the time!