Steps forward

We're back!  Adam's operation went smoothly and he returned from his sojourn to Great Ormond St on Friday.  He had a chest x-ray yesterday which showed that he still had quite a bit of fluid on his lungs so that, combined with the fact that he was still showing sharp fluctuations in his blood saturation and heart rate, meant that they decided to only slightly change his ventilator settings initially.  They then hoped to "aggressively" wean him off the ventilator as he got better.  They meant what they said, and when Chris went in to the hospital today, he had already been extubated and was off the ventilator!!  This was much earlier than we were expecting and was really good news!!!  They actually made the decision to try it, not because he looked that much better and like he didn't need it anymore, but he was being such a wriggler and was pulling at his tube too much so they thought they'd see if he could manage without to it.  Luckily he could!  His breathing is now being supported by the system he was on when he was first born.  It provides positive pressure and extra oxygen into his nose to help keep his airways open (and is attached to a rather fetching cap), but he has to do the actual breathing himself.  He might well get tired and need to go back on the ventilator, and his blood saturations still swing rather dramatically, but it's such a step forward.  It's only a week ago they were giving him CPR when he accidentally extubated himself!

So how's life changed for little Adam? As he doesn't have a tube in his mouth anymore, he can suck his (very mini) dummy, which he seems to like a lot, judging by the vigorous chomping action that occurs when it's in his mouth.  Unfortunately, he also likes grabbing things near his mouth, which rapidly seems to result in the dummy being pulled out, which he doesn't like.  He demonstrates this by getting sad and doing tiny little mewy cries, which he hasn't been able to do when on the ventilator.  Chris was doing a sterling job at keeping the little man happy by holding his dummy in place and providing a finger to be grabbed. Sadly, we eventually had to come home and leave Adam and the dummy to fend for themselves, but not before quite a lot of father-son bonding!  Fingers crossed for much more of the same.  If we're really lucky, and he continues to do OK off the ventilator, maybe we'll actually get to cuddle him sometime this week.  He's almost 4 weeks old, so it'd be so nice to finally get to hold him!

At GOSH, after his operation, aged 31+1 week or 24 days

Today, off the ventilator, aged 31+3 weeks or 26 days

Also today:  Daddy helping Adam keep his dummy in place.
As you see, A is still tiny (~850g) and hasn't grown at all really this week, due to being "nil by mouth" a lot due to transport and surgery.  There's a job for next week!