Monday was a good day!!

Today was a good day all around. No tears, not even a snivel for me today, and Charlie made some progress too. His doc is trying to wean him off the jet ventilator over the next few days in the hope she can extubate him and put him on a breathing apparatus called a bubble C-pap. When this happens, it will be a huge milestone for him, so please be praying about this.

His oxygen level stayed pretty steady today at 26%, and his blood oxygen levels were acceptable all day. He continues to be totally off the pain med drip and is only getting it when needed. His sweet nurse fashioned a pacifier that fits between the prongs of his ventilator, and it helped calm him down when he got agitated a couple of times.

One God-thing that happened today is that I discovered that the mom of one of Griffin's good friends from his 1st grade class is a pediatric pulmonologist at Cook Children's!!! I emailed Karen today about Charlie, and she said she would be glad to be his doc. It will be nice to know one of his docs on a personal level.

I got to help his night nurse change his diaper and start his 8 p.m. feed. It was nice to be included in his care. Of course, it didn't hurt that I realized I knew his nurse's uncle from my RadioShack days (I recognized the last name from her name tag).

Charlie had visitors today from 8 a.m.-9 p.m. His nurses say he is one of the few babies that has someone at his bedside most of the day. He was weighed last night, and he tipped the scale at 10.4 pounds -- remember he weighed 8.9 pounds at birth. The good news is he has lost several ounces of fluid, and we're hoping tonight's weight shows additional loss. I have a new lens coming for my camera on Wednesday, so I'll be posting more photos of Charlie soon.

I found out tonight from one of the other moms that even the other NICU parents are talking about Charlie and how big he is. This mom's baby is just 2.5 pounds (born at 28 weeks -- she's doing well and gaining weight) so Charlie makes four of her!!

The Cook Children's volunteers really know how to take care of NICU parents. Here is a beautiful handmade quilted bag the lacation nurse gave me to carry all my pumping supplies in.



And tonight was a "birthday party" for all the new babies in the NICU. Each family got to choose a quilt for their baby that volunteers from all over Texas make. I selected one made by two ladies who live in Ranger (which is outside Abilene). Isn't it cute!!