Calm

Day 63

Weight: 2 lbs 15 and a half ounces (11 grams shy of 3 lbs!)

This morning when I came in, the nurse practitioner had lowered Samuel's flow even further down to .25. He did ok with it today - he had to work a lot harder to breathe than he has been. The quicker he has to breathe, the harder it is on his heart. I'm not sure if we will stay at .25....we may have to go up to .5 liters again....but at least they gave it a try. His CO2 was also a little higher this morning. It was at 56. We really need to pray that down.
The diuretics are still an issue. They are giving Samuel one last day (today and tonight) to see if he can make more urine. If not, they are going to have to put him on Lasix (the strong diuretic) again.
I asked the doctor today about Samuel's chronic lung disease. I asked them to rate it on a scale from one to ten - ten being the worst. They said that Samuel was probably a 6 or a 7. They also suggested that there are many risk factors that would cause his lung disease to get worse (especially when we get to feeding in the stomach because reflux can cause milk to get in the airways.) Praying so hard already that Samuel doesn't' have any problem with reflux and continued prayers for his lung disease to heal quickly.
Samuel made several poopy diapers today on his own!!! As long as he keeps it up, it looks like they may not have to give him enemas. (Samuel likes that idea.)
I did kangaroo care with Samuel for a little over an hour today. It's so great to hold him. He actually slept pretty good this time - he often gets restless when we cuddle. He didn't even need his pacifier. :)
Carolyn told me that she was laughing at him yesterday because he discovered his hand. She said that he would look at it.....move his head away from it....then look at it out of the corner of his eye. That is so good!!! He is really doing well with tracking movement, looking at objects, and responding to voices.
I'm so proud of how well he is doing. It's hard to get too excited though because everyone is so cautiously optimistic. The phrase "Never trust a preemie" is thrown around all the time (annoys me to death) but it really is hard to be optimistic when things can change so quickly. Whether we take steps back from here or not.....God gets the glory for every step forward that we take.....and I shouldn't be scared to share good news even though it may not be permanent!