Saturday, October 13

Well, Amare has been making slow and consistent progress and has Gyasi and I beaming each time we walk out of the NICU. He is so strong and such a fighter. Last night we had another good visit and found that he is doing well enough that they are going to make a pretty major adjustment on his special ventilator--up until then they had only been making minor tweaks. They were going to bump it down a big setting at 5am and then take his blood gases to see how he's reacting to it. We were a bit nervous heading into the NICU this AM at 8 to see him. Turns out his gases looked good! They kept things steady all day and did another gas at 2pm--still good! They are making one more tweak on the ventilator setting and if his gases are good at 5pm tonight they will move him to the conventional, smaller ventilator!! This is a huge step for him! I guess this special oscilating ventilator he's on now can really iritate his lungs (it keeps his lungs 100% full and keeps vibrating his chest 24/7) so this regular ventilator will be much more comfortable for him. Plus, it the next step in his recovery process! Right now he's on the Bili Light for a touch of jaundice, which is completely common for newborns. Actually, had he not been in the NICU he wouldn't have gotten the lights because he doesn't have it that bad but they figured that since he's already there, they might as well treat his mild case. They put this eye mask on him and Gyasi and I keep joking that it's his Superhero mask! I guess we know what he's going to be for Halloween this year!
As far as Amare himself goes, he is just perfection in our eyes. At our 8am visit, he was moving around like crazy and wiggling out of his swaddle. The nurse said that he had already completely wiggled out 3-4 times already that morning. It was great to see him with so much fight and energy, although he really is supposed to be still so he can relax and fight this sickness. Gyasi and I held his hand this AM and he was looking at us as we talked to him. When we went back at noon, the nurse said that he just had been feisty all AM and they decided to move him so he was sleeping on his tummy--that did the trick. He was out like a light! Totally relaxed, calm, and seemingly much more comfortable! I immediately thought of how great it was for me to sleep on my stomach after being pregnant for 9 months--no wonder he is so chilled out now! We're heading back to the hospital for the night around 7pm for his 8pm touch time and will hopefully get to check him out on his new machine. The nurse said that he'll be able to be much more mobile and have more freedom when he's on this new one so we're happy about that.
For once, it was nice to cry about a positive change! Gyasi and I are just so proud of him already and he's only 4 days old. More to come!