Day 42

Day 42

Well, little Jack surprised us again. He was actually off the CPAP today and just got a little assistance from nasal cannula, which just provided oxygen for him to breath. He was on that for over two hours! In fact, the tube wasn’t even hooked up properly so he wasn’t getting any oxygen and only after 15 minutes did his oxygen saturation drop a bit. That’s 15 minutes of breathing without any assistance! What an accomplishment!

Tomorrow they are going to take him off CPAP for a little longer. They’ll continue this until he is off totally. That doesn’t mean that he will never be on it again. In fact, if preemies off CPAP develop an infection, it is not uncommon for them to have to be intubated for a while until their body recovers. We’ll just keep our fingers crossed that this won’t be the case for Jack.

Daddy even got to hold Jack today while he was free of CPAP. He looked up at him and smiled a few times. Jason was making funny noises and singing to him. That made him smile. He was so content all day in his mommy’s arms. He loved it.

When it was time to put Jack back on the CPAP, he was not a happy camper at all. He fought the nasal prongs and tried to pull them out (which he did eventually). But mommy and his nurse settled him down and it seemed like he just accepted the fact.

Soon we will start Kangaroo Care with Jack which is bonding skin to skin. A man from Jason’s work who recently had a preemie said once he started Kangaroo Care with his daughter, she started to progress much more rapidly.

Jack got a new home today as well. It was time for his incubator to be changed and he got an older, less advanced model. He doesn’t seem to mind. We just take it as good news that he doesn’t need all those bells and whistles any more… and now we can see him better.