Day 7: Monday, April 4th Update

Today was another great day of progress for our Henry. 
Betty & I spent the day at the hospital while Trey went back to work, and Charlie went to spend the day at school with his friends. 

When we got there, Henry was already switched over from the high frequency oscillator to the Servo-I ventilator he was on a few days ago and completely weaned off of Nitric Oxide!  His ventilator was set at 33% Oxygen and they said he may only be on it for a few days before being downgraded to the CPAP. 

Dr. Kahn came in to make his rounds and was very pleased with his x-ray from the night before.  He has no air in his chest cavity!  He decided that we were going to aggressively wean Henry off of the Servo I ventilator today if his blood GAS tests throughout the day proved that his body was ready.  Each blood GAS was really good, so by the time we left Henry was down to 24% Oxygen and they said that most likely Henry will get OFF the ventilator in the morning and may not even need the CPAP, just a nasal cannula!  Cross your fingers! 

They are slowly weaning him off of his sedation meds- Morphine and Versed.  They want him to become more alert and for his body to start breathing on its own more regularly.  Toward the end of our visit he started waking up and was really focusing on us.  It was precious!  Here is a video to see him moving a little bit.

Also in the morning they are planning to remove his UAC line through his umbilical cord.  Since he won't be needing as many blood GAS tests, they want to remove the line to reduce the risk of infection.  The GREAT news about this is we will be able to hold him! 

His feedings are going really well.  They increased the amount of milk from 7cc to 14cc every 3 hours.  His current weight is 6lbs 3oz.  

His IV in his head was removed.. look at that cute fuzz on his head!

Trey & our best bud Kerem came to see Henry after work. 
On the walk over to the hospital Kerem got a call from a friend offering a ticket to the Final Four Championship game.  He turned it down saying he'd rather see Henry. 

Henry with his Uncle Kerem! 

On their way back while Kerem was dropping Trey off outside his office, ESPN had set up a live broadcast with the famous sports announcer Dick Vitale.  Kerem was extremely excited to see the man famous for the phrase: "It's awesome baby!" 

To close, just thought I'd share something I thought was really neat.  We have been searching around for things to hang in Henry's room to go along with his 'Train' theme.  About a month ago, I found some signs on Ebay that had different train sayings, like "Choo Choo and Chugga Chugga", etc.  I couldn't remember which one I ordered and it finally came in the mail.  Trey and I both got choked up when we opened it. 

Quite appropriate, don't you think?