Update from Thursday

First and foremost, no, we have NOT named him yet. We've just had too much on our minds as you can imagine to concentrate on his name. Hopefully, we will find the right name for him soon.

Now, today's update on him. His overnight doc called us twice with updates, and I called both times I got up to pump for him. He had a rough night (Wednesday into Thursday morning) as he was trying to breathe on his own as well as with the oscillating ventilator they have him on. At one point, he was taking close to 90 breaths per minute between the two, which is WAY too many. Once his doctor and nurses got the right cocktail of drugs to totally sedate him, he settled down close to sunrise and started letting the ventilator do the work by itself.

Overnight, they gave him a dose of pulmonary surfactant to help reduce the pressure in his lungs, which allows the lungs to inflate much more easily. He also stayed on the nitric oxide, which relaxes contracted lung blood vessels and improves blood flow to the lungs. In addition, he's on a blood pressure medication to keep his pressure up, which in turn, helps the blood flow more freely in his little lungs.

During the course of the day, they were able to wean him down from 100% oxygen to 50% oxygen in his ventilator. They tried to wean him off the nitric oxide, but he wasn't ready for it, so they put him back on it this afternoon. When I talked with his doc this evening before we left, she said they would be making no major adjustments overnight. She wants to keep him steady and stable for 12 hours before making any adjustments.

So her overall comment was that he is still in critical condition, but she was pleased with the progress he made during the day. They are giving us no time frame of how long he will be in NICU...we're taking it day by day right now. Best case, I think he could be out late next week as he's on a course of antibiotics to rule out any infections or pneumonia. Or it could be a couple of weeks. It all depends on how his body progresses.

We are very pleased with how his day ended up. He looks so peaceful and perfect in his little bed. And he is already quite the NICU star. All the nurses that come on each shift stop by to see the "fat baby" and admire him. Our nurse told us they don't get many full-term babies in the NICU, so everyone loves to look at him. He is pretty fabulous if I do say so myself:-)

I know he is already on many prayer lists both in Texas and around the country. I even have a dear friend in France, Irene, who is lifting him up in prayer. Thank you to Kristen and Dawn who prayed with Jason and me over the baby's bed this afternoon. I know he felt your presence. And for our friends and family, thank you lifting for him up to the Lord in your prayers. We feel your love and encouragement!!!