More signs of progress

2/23/10

New Pictures!

Chris holding Collin for the first time since he held him in the OR!

No More CPAP!!!

What a cute face!

Yesterday was a really long day so I am including the update for yesterday and today. I was discharged yesterday so Chris and I were trying to figure out where we were going to be staying the night after I was discharged. We were able to secure a room through Ronald McDonald House on the 7th floor right down the hall from the NICU. There are 7 rooms offered for families of children in the NICU and they are given out based on severity of the child. We had to put our name on the list and wait all day to see if we got a room. We were able to move into our room beween 7 and 9 last night so we had to wait on my nurse to discharge me and then get all of our stuff transported to the room on 7. Then Chris had to leave and find a 24 hour pharmacy to get all my prescriptions filled so that I would have pain medication for last night and today.

It was all worth it though because today was a great day!

Even more progress. They increased Collin's feedings today to 33 ml and disconnected the IV early in the day.

I just got back from visiting with him and they have now removed the IV completely and he is on 21% oxygen which is equivalent to room air!!!! Another milestone for him.

While I was in there his respiratory rate was between 40-60 which is exactly where they want it to be. Now he just has to stay there consistently. While I was in there he was sleeping but they want to see him maintain his respiratory rate between 40-60 while he is awake and being held then they will consider switching him to a bottle feeding and then to breastfeeding. They want to be sure that he will be able to maintain his breathing at the proper rate while sucking and swallowing so for now he remains on the feeding tube.

Hopefully tomorrow we will be able to see if he continues to maintain his respiratory rate and when the Dr's round we will know how they are going to proceed.

2/22/10

Collin has made a substantial amount of progress over the past 48 hours.

Yesterday Collin was still on the CPAP machine but was steadily decreasing the amount of oxygen he was requiring. He feedings were increased from 7 ml to 13 ml and he tolerated them well and had very little undigested breastmilk left when they checked before his next feeding.

Chris went up after 3 AM last night to take a bottle I had pumped and they had decreased his oxygen to 25%.

This morning Chris went up to take another bottle and to his suprise Collin was completely off the CPAP machine and only had a nasal canula. When Collin was on the CPAP the pressure he was requiring to force the oxygen in was at 6, then over last night it came down to 5 and then 4.

When he was switched to the nasal canula today they further decreased the pressure to 2 and today while we were visiting they decreased it again to 1.5.

Coming off the CPAP machine was a huge sign of progress. Throughout the day today Collin has maintained himself on around 30% oxygen but has only needed the pressure of 1.5.

They also increased his feedings today to 27 ml and he has tolerated them well and gained some weight. He was up to 5 lbs 10 ozs last night, which was good because he was down to 5 lbs 9 ozs, and they will weigh him again tonight to see what he has gained today.

The next step is to get the IV taken out. The Dr. had mentioned that if Collin gets to 30 ml feedings and tolerates them well they could probably turn off the IV. He is currently still at 27 ml because they only increase his feedings once a day but when the Dr's round in the morning they may increase it again and hopefully at that point will say that the IV can be removed.

At this point it looks like we may be able to take him home Wednesday or Thursday but hopefully he will suprise us and continue to improve as rapidly as he has over the past 48 hours so that we can take him home even sooner.

We want to thank you all for your prayers and emails. We look forward to seeing your responses to our good news.

Mom and Kaitlyn came up today and Mom was able to hold Collin. Chris is currently in the NICU with Collin having some bonding time so I will post some pictures when I get a chance.