Day 53

Another day off the vent is another day closer to home! Parker was a little fussy off and on today. I don't think he likes his SiPAP very much. He was a bit worked up this morning so some labs and tests were done, so far so good. I guess he's allowed to have an off day. Going to keep things the same for now, don't want to rock the boat too much. It's nice having him off the vent because I feel that I can do more for him now. Working my way into motherhood.

Day 52

Parker is doing well on his SiPAP. Still at his 30 breaths per minute rate, and maintaining his oxygen levels on room air with the occasional oxygen boost. He gets a little fussy now and again from the mask and the nasal prongs that go along with the SiPAP. His PICC line came out today, yay! I was able to hold him for an hour today. It's great being able to pick him up without having to worry so much about a breathing tube coming dislodged. His weight has pretty much been the same the past few days 4lbs, 2 oz. Still needs to fatten up a bit more. His feedings were increased to 10cc/hr plus 22 calorie fortifier. Little guy is moving right along.

Day 51

Today Parker made a great improvement. He is off the ventilator!! He is now on SiPAP which is a little mask that goes over his nose and pushes air into his lungs. He is at a set rate at 30 right now so it will give him at least that many breaths a minute. He has been doing well and has been on room air most of the day and maintaining adequate oxygen saturations. I don't think he's a big fan of this new contraption, but it's necessary for his progression. The best part for me today was being able to hear my baby cry for the first time. It's not very often a mother wants to hear her child cry, but for me it was so sweet. His poor little hoarse cry brought a tear to my eye. Feeds remain the same right now. I think extubating him was enough for the day!

Day 50

50 days seems like a long time in the NICU, but it sure goes by fast! Parker had a pretty good day. Did another ET cpap trial for 3 hours today. Working up those lungs. Talking about taking out his breathing tube in the next day or so. Feedings are the same right now. John was able to hold him for a little while. Parker's breathing tube was a bit positional while John was holding him, so we had to put him back after about 20 min. We appreciate every minute we get to hold our little guy.

Day 49

Parker did well again today. He did another ET cpap trial for 2 hours and did well. He is up to 9cc/hr on his feeds. Doing well with that. We were going to discontinue his PICC line today, but Parker decided to puke when we did his meds through his feeding tube. Checked his belly with an X-ray and the tube was in the right spot, so he shouldn't have puked. Just a fluke I guess. So he gets the PICC line another day just in case he needs meds intravenously. I was able to hold him again today. That always makes Parker and I happy. Love me some snuggle time!

Day 48

Parker did well today. We did ET cpap trials again today. He did it for 2 hours and his blood gases were good. He had some episodes of apnea, but hardly desat, and when he did desat he recovered well on his own. Good job son! He had mom, dad and his nurse cheering him on! One step closer to extubation! His feedings are being fortified now so that he can get some extra calories in since we're making him work a little harder. Hopefully we can get his PICC line out soon too. He's been such a good boy for us!

Day 47

Parker continues to have good days! Did amazing today. He did so well that I got to hold him again. He was so wide eyed when we started and was sound asleep a few minutes into holding him. Such a good boy. We learned that he loves being swaddled. We kept him swaddled after I held him and he was an angel all afternoon. We bumped up his feedings again to 7.5cc/hr. Decreased his vent setting again and since he was doing well on them we did a cpap trial. Unfortunately it was too much for him, so it was a no go. That's ok, we can try again. At least he doesn't desat like he used to. We're still headed in the right direction!