Max was born on 21 May 2005 at 7.58 am via an emergency caesarian after a 28 hour labour. He had respiratory distress due to meconium aspiration (which basically means he breathed in some of his poo and did some rather serious lung damage in the process). He was rushed off to special care while Sarah was getting stitched up and stayed in the special care nursary for 12 days. He was in an isolete (humidicrib) for the first 7 days, had oxygen, an IV drip, anibiotics, phototherapy for mild jaundice, and loads of monitors (heart rate, breathing rate, oxygen saturation). He didn't eat for the first 3 days (breathing was hard enough work for him) and was then fed by a tube through the nose. From day six he was breast fed and tube fed expressed breast milk. He also had a load of tests - chest xrays, a zillion blood tests, a brain scan, heart ultrasound and ECG. The main problems were meconium in the lungs and a rapid respiratory rate. Due to his breathing problems, he used his secondary muscles while breathing, which meant his chest and ribs heaved a lot with each breath. He was not released from special care until his oxygen saturation remained above 90% and his respiratory rate dropped to below 70.

1 hour old in an oxygen headbox	Max and Sarah meet

Snoozing in the isolete	Feet with 5 toes... phew!	Favourite frog position
Nose tube and IV drip	Fully wired...	Porthole to Max's world
Phototherapy porn star	Max the rapper gangsta	Sarah visits Max
First cuddle - day 5	Getting pretty hungry...	First real feed
Much better that a nasal tube feed	First cuddles with dad

And finally - tube free	which is very tiring	Wrapped

"Rooming in" on day 11	Just chillin' with mum

Last updated: June 2005

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