A big day for a little chap

What a busy day we've had!

When Phil and I arrived this morning we were very happy to see little Jensen had remained on the same pressure overnight and not gone back up as the 'not so positive' doctor had predicted. As I was gathering my stuff to express, I heard the word 'extubate'. This word means to remove the breathing tube. So there it was, the plan was to extubate the tube and try Jensen on CPAP...(Continuous Positive Airway Pressure)!!

Cuddles were postponed obviously, as he needed to remain as stable as possible and well rested. Cuddles can be had every day on CPAP once he is used to it and doing well. It all happened around 11:30 this morning, I hid away in the expressing room, as I am not good with all the doctors around and especially the 'red trolley' (resuscitation trolley), besides I would have been in the way. Dana explained the procedure to me beforehand and came to tell me when it was done....less than 5 minutes later! She placed the CPAP over his nose so he got used to that sensation before removing the tube. The little scrap didn't know anything had been changed. He has been doing well with it this afternoon, in fact when I asked one of the nurses 'is he all good?' She said 'no, he's awesome'... They can monitor how he is handling the change by doing his gases, as it shows the amount of CO2 in his lungs and oxygen levels etc. Often such little preemies can have trouble getting rid of the CO2, this is why Jensen has previously been on high frequency, just to aid this process.

Jensen may need to have the tube put back in if he becomes tired or his gases are not ideal. If this is the case, it will only be a short time before they try him again. I'm just happy he's lasted the afternoon as it is such a big change for him, and as we know he prefers small changes rather than the large.

So today's change means that he is now inflating and deflating his lungs by himself. Previously on the ventilator he was initiating breaths and the machine was finishing them off for him, now the CPAP just opens the first part (similar to the first part of blowing up a balloon) and he does the rest. This of course is all new to him, and perhaps he was being lazy on the ventilator, or perhaps because the ventilator has done this his whole life so far, he didn't know he had to.

So while Jensen is on CPAP he will have his little helmet, snorkel and chin strap on. The mask is alternated with prongs every 6 to 8 hours or during his cares just to relieve some the pressure on his face for a while. This won't be happening until tomorrow as they are leaving things be for tonight.

Still on 7ml of milk today because of the big change, perhaps another increase tomorrow.

He has lots of drop in visits from nurses this afternoon who say 'oh he's doing so well' in a nicely surprised voice. They're all so happy and pleased with him. He is such a little trooper and he has let everyone know, and he keeps creating little seeds of doubt in the minds of medical staff on their traditional textbook expectations of a baby born at 23 weeks. We think Jensen will cause the rewriting of the books! They say often what a little fighter he is and how much determination he's got for such a wee little fella, God bless his little heart. In fact the doctors just did their rounds and said 'he's a little champion'...

We also heard yesterday that little Valentina's operation went well and she has just been waiting for a bed here as it's been full, that's why she's been away so long. News just in....she's arriving back tomorrow and her in her old room next to Jensen.

Posted with Blogsy