Prayers for Max

We welcomed Max with open arms at 11:14am on Tuesday August 22, 2006. He weighed 6lbs 4oz and was 19.5 inches long. Max and Kelly did great after his birth. His apgars were 8 & 9 and he nursed well soon after he was born. At some point Tuesday afternoon they checked his blood sugar and it was low. At this point they put an i.v. in and supplemented a little bit with some formula. This is not an extremely uncommon occurance a few hours after birth. Max did well Tuesday night. He spent most of the night in the nursery so they could closely monitor his blood sugar. Once they got a room available Kelly was moved closer to the nursery so Max could be in the room more. His sugar somewhat stablized Wednesday and they were able to start decreasing his I.V. fluid. Last night (Wednesday) around 8:00 Max nursed really well. Kelly burped him and started to nurse him again. We noticed that Max was turning purple. For a split second we thought he was straining for a bowel movement. When his condition didn't change in a couple of seconds and he didn't appear to be breathing, we called for help. In a few seconds we had 6 or 7 nurses in the room with us. The first nurse to respond listened to his heart and lungs. She said he had a good heart beat and was breathing. They rushed him to the nursery to monitor him closely. Kelly and John followed. They allowed the grandparents in to see Max and hug Kelly and John. Max had stablized and Kelly and John returned to their room to try to get some rest around 10:20pm. About 30-45 minutes passed and Max had another spell. It was at this point that the pediatrician decided to transfer him by helecoptor to the bigger Baptist hospital in Little Rock where he could have a higher level of care. We were waiting in the waiting room while Kelly and John were getting rest. When we heard the helecoptor my mom and I immediately got a sick feeling. Without saying anything to each other I think we both started praying "Lord please don't let that be for our Max" Before we left Springhill Baptist they told us that they thought he was having seizure like activity. He had another couple of spells or seizures before leaving for the big hospital. Once they got him to the NICU they started him on some phenobarbitol to stop the seizures. Luckily they had a parent sleep room and Kelly and John were able to stay there last night. We (the 2 sets of grandparents and myself) stayed until around 2am. We were allowed in to see Max. They are unsure now what is causing the seizures and the unstable blood sugar. One of the things they are investigating is a subarachnoid hemorrhage. He had a CT scan this morning at 6:45 and last time I talked to John they were doing an EEG to make sure the electrical activity in his brain is normal. I will try to update this site when we have information. If you post comments I will print them out and take them to Kelly and John at the hospital.

Thank you for your prayers for this precious family.
Karie (Kelly's sister)