Maxwell Michael Hardy, son of Floribama Shore’s Candace Rice, is breathing on his own after six months in the NICU. This means he might go home soon.
After months of heartache and stress, Floribama Shore star Candace Rice shared some positive news about her baby Maxwell that could mean he’s heading home soon. In the early hours of Christmas morning, Maxwell Michael Hardy entered this world at only 24 weeks. Ever since, he’s been growing and improving his health in the NICU, with Candace posting regular updates on his steady progress. It’s been half a year of emotional hospital visits, but after a major leap forward in his development, Maxwell may almost be ready to leave the NICU and meet his extended Floribama family.
Candace, who shares Maxwell with boyfriend Denzel Hardy aka DJ Skar, shocked fans in December when she revealed not only her pregnancy, but that she gave birth prematurely. Over the past six months, Candace has chronicled Maxwell’s NICU journey and each milestone, such as being held by his mother for the first time. All the while, she’s received an outpouring of support from her fans and co-stars alike. In March, Nilsa Prowant, Codi Butts, Jeremiah Buoni and Kirk Medas traveled to Memphis, Tennessee, for Candace’s baby shower, arriving in true Floribama fashion with boxes of White Claw and Natural Light.
On Instagram, Candace announced an exciting step for Maxwell: he no longer requires a breathing tube. This proud mom posted a video of Maxwell squeezing her hand and smiling ear-to-ear as she cheered, “You got your breathing tube out, man!,” and chanted, “Breathing, breathing, breathing on my own.” Candance told her followers, “Baby Max is now breathing on his own at a perfect rate and his lungs are perfectly healthy. The doctors are very impressed with how fast and how much he’s progressed.” Maxwell now weighs 10 pounds, 9 ounces and is adjusting to bottle feeding.
Fans gushed over Maxwell, calling him a “straight up miracle” and “pretty precious boy.” The single point of frustration for Candace is that the doctors aren’t allowing her to breast feed, despite Maxwell seeming to prefer this method. “The nurses watch me like a hawk making sure I don’t breast feed him,” she said. “Beyond me, but nonetheless… I’m so happy, grateful, and blessed he’s almost to the finish line.” This also angered a number of Candace’s followers, who urged her to seek more information from the healthcare professionals.
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If a fifth season of Floribama Shore were to happen, many would love to see Candace embrace this fresh chapter of motherhood. They’d also be seeing an uncharacteristically raw and vulnerable version of the reality TV star. She previously told fans that, given the emotional pain endured these past several months, she no longer cares about her branding and what people think of her. At this point, much to the annoyance of Aimee Hall and the rest of the cast, MTV is promoting the new series Buckhead Shore rather than dropping details about new Floribama Shore content. Hopefully, with so many life updates surrounding the crew, from Candace’s baby to Gus Smyrnios’ engagement to Samantha Carucci, it’s renewed for another season.
