Free at Last

Baby GL is calling the shots now.  He managed to flail his arms free of everything.  He flailed so much his iv fell out, it wasn't in use anyway.  He flailed the other arm too, so much that his arterial line moved it's way loose.  The nurses do a really do job at making sure these lines are secure, so I can say this was not an easy task for the average patient.  Good thing for him, though, because now he has his hands back. I don't know how they expected a 9 month old baby to stay strapped down.  When I went in to see him he was fully bundled in a blanket with the sand bags they use for positioning him all laying on and around him.   All I saw was his face, but he was very sweet and fast asleep.  The nurses told me that every once in a while when they looked in on him he would manage to get one arm free. That is his personality.  He was never much of a swaddling baby.  It was comforting to hear my Baby GL was back to his feisty self.  Aside from that I was given the news that if all goes well, he'll be extubated in the afternoon.

We've made progress.  Yesterday afternoon Baby GL was extubated, no more tube.  He was put on the CPAP, which he knows very well. He was very happy to get rid of that tube.  The nurses told me he was in relief and immediately showed it after extubation.  After extubation they did an x-ray to see how his lungs were doing. Unfortunately, the right side wasn't looking good.  He had a breathing treatment with Albuterol around that point and he seemed to cough up a lot of junk from his lungs.  With his lungs still looking ill the doctors wanted to try that NAVA system with the CPAP.  It is a new technique that hasn't been used much yet, but it was successful for him while intubated.  When the doctor came in to check on him he was surprised at how comfortable and peaceful he was so they decided to hold off on any changes until later in the evening, after another breathing treatment and x-ray.  I was left sitting on the edge of my seat until after 8pm with the decision.

Come later in the evening Baby GL did manage to self-repair his lungs with the breathing treatment and rest.  His x-ray looked much improved so the doctors held off making any changes to his current oxygen settings.  That gave me relief.  There was the chance that if his lungs still weren't improving they were going to have to re-intubate which would set him back tremendously.  Do you see how Baby GL loves to live on the edge?!

I'm looking forward to see how our New Year will progress.  It's hard to image Baby GL as a toddler with all the fight he's given us as a baby.