Meet Max

5 days old

Max was a surprise for us.  At the time he arrived, we had Paige and were also fostering a 1yr old boy.  Me and the kids were visiting family out of state when I got the message about Max's birth.  I was getting ready to head back home that next day.  The message stated that Paige's birth mom had delivered a baby boy and CPS was wondering if we'd like to take him in.  Uh, yes please!!  So for a second time, I called my husband to let him know that another baby, Paige's half sibling, was coming to our home the following day.  I spun myself into a whirwind of preperation; informing family & friends, setting things up between CPS and our foster agency, making sure we were packed and ready to travel back home, and making sure my husband was ready take care of this baby on his own until I could get there.  Needless to say  I was overly anxious to get back home quickly.  Major car problems changed that plan and that was the longest adventure back home of my life!! (a story for another time)   All I wanted was to get home to meet this baby!
We knew right off the bat that we would most likely get to adopt Max.  And all worked out just so.  We finalized his adoption shortly after he turned 1.

1yr old

Max was born drug exposed but not to the degree Paige was.  He came home at 2 days old happy and healthy.  He was a sweet, happy baby.   He was happy to be cuddled, not very fussy, a very content baby.  When we received the results of his newborn screening, my life was turned UPSIDEDOWN.  He tested positive for Cystic Fibrosis.  I had never heard of CF before.  Not only was I back home and having to wrap up and deal with all the car issues, figuring how I was going to be a mom to 3 kids under the age of 2, I was now thrown into a medical world I had never imagined I'd ever be a part of.  CF is a life-threatening genetic disease that primarily affects the lungs and digestive system.  I'll talk more about CF in another post.

Max was such an easy baby, except when it came to eating.  He would rather do anything else than eat.  From day one it was a struggle to get him to drink the bottle.  He did not enjoy solids.  He was a very, very particular eater. From very early on, we had to start giving him digestive enzymes with every meal, along with daily airway clearence treatments.  These are completed every day by a hypertonic saline via nebulizer (thins out the mucus) and CPT (chest physical therapy) to break up the mucus.

2yrs old

We also had him assessed for sensory issues and completed a round of feeding therapy.  This helped some but he continued to be diagnosed with failure to thrive and in June of 2012, he had a G-Tube placed. This was a killer decision for me.  He does eat orally but continues to struggle with eating enough each day, but with the tube, he has been able to make progress and slowly gain weight.  I'll talk more in depth about all things feeding tubes, in another post.

Max is now 3 and attending preschool.  This structured setting is helping him learn social skills and how to appropriately participate in social settings.  We are also starting Occupational Therepy to help with his sensory needs, hyperactivity, and improve his ability to focus and follow direction.   This kid has so much energy it's crazy!  He has a hard time focusing, very easily distracted and an EXTREMELY curious kid, and will have outbursts over the littlest things.  We will also be completing a sleep study in the next couple of weeks to determine if there is a sleep disorder.  He does not sleep at night.  He will be tired but it takes him a while to calm down and fall asleep and stay asleep.  He is up and down all throughout the night.

3yrs old

He truely is a sweet boy with such a funny personality.  He has a crazy obsession with vacuums and pumpkins.  And when you're having one on one time with him, he is so fun and helpful, and has such manners.  When he is with his sister, they feed off each other making for some rather stressful days.  But even on those "bad" days, he always offers me something to smile and laugh about.

Not a day goes by that I don't stress over this kid and think about how he may not have as long a life as others.  But he is here and he's mine and I take things a day at time and hope and pray that I'm doing what's best for him and his needs are being met.