Nasal Cannula... Almost

Eli was taken off of CPAP Monday and moved on to the nasal cannula. It is so nice to be able to see his full head, he looks like a completely different baby!

Before they put the cannula on him we got to see his face with nothing on it!

Holding is so much easier without the huge CPAP. 

Tuesday I went in to hold again and the doctor said that we could start nuzzling! Nuzzling is basically breast feeding practice, I pump all of my milk out before so he's not actually eating anything. He sort of got it, but mostly just looked up at me like, "what am I supposed to do with this thing?" and then fell asleep. I held him for a little while after but then noticed that his breathing was getting faster and more labored. I was concerned and the nurse decided it would be best to put him back to bed. His blood oxygen saturation was decreasing and the nurse had to turn up the oxygen to over 40%. At that point, the nurse made the call to put him back on CPAP. He just got too tired and needed more assistance. We were bummed, but knew it could happen. Since then, Eli has been doing great on CPAP and the doctors are going to try nasal cannula again sometime next week. 

Eli has been doing phenomenol with eating. His intestines have been working well and he is pooping again! The nurses all cheered for his first poopy diaper. He has been eating the proper amount of milk for his age and they've been giving him less and less fluids through the broviac. Today, the doctor said that he called the surgeon to take out the broviac! That will happen sometime this weekend and we are so happy he won't have anything invasive going into his body. 

Eli weighs 6 pounds 8 ounces now and he is starting to outgrow his preemie clothes. It's hard to believe he has been in the NICU for 75 days - hopefully it won't be too much longer!