Day 8 -- August 6

One week old!! I love that each morning I come in to more progress.  I know not all mornings could be like that, so I'm very thankful for his progress so far.  His oxygen is now down to 25% which is just about room air.  Again today his breathing is a little fast.  Normal babies breath at a rate of 30-60 breaths per minute and that is where they want him.  His ventilator was set at a rate of 50 yesterday and 30 and then 25 today.  So any breaths beyond that he is making on his own.  The nurse said at this point that the only support the ventilator is providing is volume to his lungs.  Because his lungs are feeling crowded right now, he needs support to help him increase the volume of his lungs when he breathes.

Besides getting of of the ventilator, the surgeon is looking for him to have clear stomach fluids.  He has a tube that is going into his stomach and draining out the fluids.  From the first day those fluids have been dark green like the color of canned spinach.  They need to be clear to almost clear for him to be able to start eating.

He also needs to be weaned off all of his medications.  They have already taken him of the albumin for swelling and the paralytic.  Today they have started to wean him off of the versed which is the sedative.    He will continue to stay on the pain medication, fentanyl, for a while.  Not only is this helping him with pain, but it is also most likely helping him in dealing with any withdrawal from methadone.

The surgeon came by today and took off and changed the dressing on his incision.  He said that the edges of the bandage were wrinkled which means that the swelling of his tummy has gone down since the surgery yesterday.  He said the incision looks great and even made him a little belly button.

The best news of the day was he had big, huge smelly poop!  It was the biggest and first post-surgery.  McFly's vitals, blood gases, and blood work continue to be perfect!

I have to say that so far this NICU staff has been amazing.  They let me come and go as I please, make sure I have a seat, and answer any questions I have.  I couldn't have asked for better care.

So cute!

McFly says Hi!

Getting so active!