A Good Day

Milo has had a good day.  His blood gases have been good with lower carbon dioxide numbers.  He is only barely on extra oxygen; we breathe 21% from the air, and he is on 24%.  The pressure on his ventilator is down as well, and they hope to continue dropping the levels until they can remove his breathing tube.  This can take several days to wean him from it, and if he won't tolerate it, he may have to stay on it for longer.  The doctors hope that he can be off of it by early next week.

His heart is also responding well to the medications.  His heart is pumping more efficiently on its own, so they are slowly weaning him from that.  The coarctation of the aorta is still significant, but the blood is being diverted around it by keeping the duct open that normally closes after a few days of life.  They were able to bring down the medication that keeps the duct open, and that will help the medication (prostaglandins) from affecting other parts of the body.

Now it's just a waiting game to see when the lungs will heal.  It still seems to the doctors that he inhaled amniotic fluid causing swelling, and that the swelling is beginning to go away.  It's a slow process, so they may have to wait to do the surgery closer to Tuesday, May 22.  We're still hoping that he heals very quickly, can have the surgery on Friday, and can be home that much sooner.  The doctor said to expect him in the hospital a month to six weeks.

This has been the first really positive day with changes in the right direction.  Although we are both still so worried, it feels like today we can breathe a bit.

Milo also got visited by Grandma and Grandpa Dewey today!  Big sister Vivienne also came to the hospital, but is too young to meet her brother while he's there.  She did have a good time climbing on the chairs of the family area of the NICU while the four of us took turns visiting Milo though!