03/28/2007

And, we are 31 hours off the vent on CPAP. The doctor came by to talk to us. Emery will have some low-dose steroids on board for a while along with the inhaled steroids, the albuterol, and the nitric oxide. He is at the highest pressure allowable on SIMV/CPAP so they don't have any room to go up, but they do know this. He can do the work of breathing. He has proved himself. Now, the key is to keep him growing. They are willing to tolerate a high blood gas here and there *if* he comes back down. So far he has been crying off and on all night and has maintained his saturations very well. Once he dipped to 79 but came immediately back up. Another time he went to 82 and came back up. He's averaging 95% on 50% oxygen but can come down to 40% when he's calm and sleeping. We can officially say he's made progress. Thank you for your prayers and please continue them. I walked in tonight and of course hopeful Hope asked me why I wasn't jumping up and down for joy, and I said, "we are taking it one hour at a time." She said "he's made it 24 hours. He's proved himself. Now it's just a matter of time." She ought to have a star on the NICU sidewalk of fame. That's all for Emery. Oh, and I don't know what our next goal is with Emery. Growth, for sure. I can't even begin to tell you. We were just so flabbergasted that he made this far I can't even look forward because I'm too content to live in the moment.