So who does Max look like?

People ask if Max looks like either of us as babies.  Apparently hair is our thing!   Thanks Aunt Leslie and Nana Iris!

To keep everyone updated, Max continues to do well-- feed, grow and generally give the nurses a run for their money.  Still no word on when he is coming home, but we will keep yo posted.

More fresh photos (sign up for Dropbox and get me more space for Max photos!)

2200g!

Max crosses over his birth weight.  Let the party begin!  Also, a beautiful birth announcement courtesy and Evan and Julia Berg:

Prelude to a pregnancy

While spending the day at the NICU Whitney reviewed our text message conversation from the day of Max's somewhat unexpected birth.  Enjoy...

Whitney comes home!

With a news cycle exciting as this one we are running almost a full day behind here at the MaxBlog.  Whitney was discharged safely from the hospital yesterday afternoon (well, morning but we realllly liked the room).  The extreme home makeover was a success and we continue to get our house ready for Max to come home.  I think it is called "feathering the nest."  Anyhow, Max continues to feed and grow and hopefully we will have little news for awhile as things progress.

Max negotiates his first promotion

Well, Max has shown us that some hard work really pays off.  He has really been putting in the long hours for the past 4 days, pulling all nighters in the NICU in a caffeine-fueled daze.  The negotiations were tough, but he has been promoted from a NICU baby to an "Intermediate" baby--no IV, breathing well, eating some... a few tiny steps closer to home.

Speaking of home, Whitney has been the victim of an elaborate Extreme Home Makeover prank-- tricked into staying in the hospital while her extended family jazzed up our new place.  The regular team was there-- Stan and Andrew with the Ikea runs on construction, Iris and Jackie working the Bed Bath and Beyond angle (we weren't sure if we would have enough time!) and Marc keeping Whitney's spirits up at the hospital.  A special shout out to guest designer, Cousin Hayley, who really needs to get into this full time!

More tomorrow!

17 inches, not cm

Thanks for pointing that one out! Stupid units

Schutzblog to be rebranded the MaxBlog.

Greetings all!  Whitney and I are excited to announce the early arrival of Max Levi Schutzbank at 4lbs 13 oz 17.23in long at 10:14pm on Wednesday at 7/11/2012.  He is currently a guest of the Brigham and Women's NICU and we will keep this site updated--filtering out to Facebook, Twitter and Google+.

Today thus far:  Max is doing well in the NICU, breathing on his own and taking feeds like a pro.  The cutest little NG tube is in place to supplement him (gotta love that eats while he sleeps, so jealous).  And he kind of looks like the Terminator:

Whitney is doing shockingly well (high pain tolerance from years of putting up with me?) and all of the grandparents have arrived safely.

I will keep posting news here so keep checking.  Also, all of our photos will go into Dropbox first here:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/zw5nrcxhmsfyrga/mSwpIa6zB_ (I hope that works) and subsequently onto Facebook and Google+, but that takes a few extra steps.

We love you all and thanks so much for your love and support!

New England Journal of Medicine: The Health Care Jobs Fallacy

In a recent New England Journal of Medicine Article entitled The Health Care Jobs Fallacy, Drs. Baicker & Chandra question the very popular public policy assumption that growth in health care jobs is a positive economic indicator.  The article is a quick read, and begins strongly by questioning a core fallacy that more jobs means a stronger economy.  The very existence of a job does not imply that any value is actually being created, makes no comment on the efficiency of the expenditure, or if the person doing the job could be doing something more productive with his or her time.  Overall a bold move by the authors and NEJM to challenge common (and flawed) political wisdom.

However, the authors retreat from their strong opening as they maintain the position that health care is necessarily a uniform, society-wide service and must be viewed through the scope of central planning.  Talk about "losers and winners" and the boilerplate closing disclaimer paragraph (go slow, wait for evidence and expand other programs) echoes fixed-pie rhetoric that is typical of the pubic policy world.    


Working in the innovation space, I continue to lament the notion of many of my very intelligent colleagues that we can centrally design one simple health care system for all, despite the litany of failures evidencing the contrary.  It will be interesting to see how the ACA plays out, but I have little faith that any centralized attempt to "fix healthcare" will produce anything other than the complex, inhuman, politically charged system that it has already produced-- only larger, more consumptive and more toxic to innovation as it grows.  


A commendation to the authors for taking on this politically unpopular reality, and I hope that the net effect is not a subtle shift in the metrics of public policy, but a broader view of health care that puts patients (that would be all of us) and the subset of patients who act as caretakers & providers in charge of guiding the direction of this incredibly important and dynamic service.