Clothes and CPAP

Eli has done well so far this week. The doctors have been continually weening him off of the ventilator. He also is eating a lot more - he is up to 24 mL of milk! Before heart surgery, he was only getting 6 mL so he has definitely come a long way. He will be 32 weeks old on Monday. The time is really going by quickly.

Eli is also big enough to wear clothes. Today he finally hit the 4 pound mark! He's one of the bigger babies in the pod.

Thanks for the hat, Stephanie! 

On Wednesday, the doctors decided that he was ready to try CPAP. I got to the hospital about 20 minutes after he was put on it. He looked so uncomfortable.

Eli could not calm down enough for consistent breaths. He was breathing oxygen at 70% and wasn't tolerating it well. He would throw his hands up and grab the tubes on top of his head and try to pull them off. I stayed with him for the next couple hours and tried to calm him down by giving firm touch. Premature babies feel more comfortable when they are given boundaries because it reminds them of being in the womb. Even with the constant pressure of my hands on his body, he still was fighting hard to grab those tubes on his head. 

After being on CPAP for three hours, the nurse did a blood gas. His CO2 was really, really high so the doctor wanted him to be reintubated. A little bit later, the respiratory therapist and doctor came to place the tube back in. At this point, Eli's breathing was very labored. He had stopped fighting and I could tell he was tired of working so hard on his own to breathe. 

Eli was much more relaxed with the additional support of the breathing tube. As much as we wanted him to stay on CPAP, it was clear that he wasn't quite ready. Regardless, the doctors were surprised at how quickly they were able to ween down his ventilator settings after his heart surgery. Most babies aren't ready for CPAP until two weeks after surgery and Eli was ready after six days. With the breathing tube back in, the weening process begins again although the doctors are taking it slower so Eli will be more prepared start CPAP again. Even though he was only on CPAP for 3 hours, his next X-Ray showed lung improvement. Slowly but surely he is making progress and we are grateful for every small step.