Asher off the ventilator

This morning, I woke up feeling great after having slept in my own bed.  It’s always nice to sleep in your own bed after being in a hospital bed for three nights and being woken up by people coming in to give you medicine, take your blood pressure, etc.  Plus, the hospital bed becomes so uncomfortable by the third night!  We spent the morning slowly getting ready and enjoying some time here with the boys.  I was lying on the couch while all three of them were on the floor playing with Legos.  James kept bringing me a Lego guy and setting it on my stomach, and Landon and Davis kept coming over and showing me their creations.  I think they were glad to have me home for a little bit.  Christie took them to the park around 11, and they had fun playing outside in the nice weather.

Today has been another day of slow but steady improvement for Asher.  When we called to check on him this morning, they told us the plan today was to leave his breathing tube in, but turn the ventilator machine off to allow him to do some breathing “exercises.”  If he did well with that, they would remove the ventilator tomorrow.  When we arrived there about noon, he was breathing on his own through the ventilator tube.  They did some blood work on him after a few hours to see how his body was doing with his own breathing.  He apparently passed the test, because they then lowered the amount of sleeping medicine they were giving him to allow him to wake up so they could take it out. 

 

By about 4:00, they had us leave the room for a little bit while they took out the breathing tube.   When we came back, he was all snuggled up, peacefully sleeping again but without the ventilator.  He did have forced air in his nose, which the nurse told us is basically like sticking your head out the window as your driving in the car.  It helps him get the air he is breathing in a little easier.  He had it in the NICU too, so we were used to seeing that.

Around 5:00, I looked over at Asher, and he was lying there in the bed with his eyes open!  The nurse had noticed a little congestion with his breathing, so she was trying to aspirate it out.  He was not happy!  He started screaming, and batting his hand against her, trying to pull the tube away from her.  It was good in a way to hear him cry and make some noise!  He calmed down pretty quickly, and I was so excited to see him awake, since I have only seen him with his eyes open two or maybe three times since he was born.  He just looked around, and then stopped and looked at me for awhile.  He then stared right up at the light above his head, so the nurse hung a mobile from there.  He stared and stared at it.  I kept thinking he was going to fall back asleep, but he was fighting to stay awake.  I think he was fascinated to be awake too and to see some of the things around him.

 

He finally gave in and fell back asleep, and he was peacefully resting by the time we left a little bit later.  Tomorrow, they are going to try to give him some breast milk and see how he does, and we should be able to hold him!

   

(The nurse uses the little bear to help hold the blanket around him and keep him snuggled in tight.)