Mighty Mathew (Pictures Updated)

Mathew continues to prove to be one might little boy. One of his Respiratory Therapists told us we should be doing back flips over all the progress he's made in the last few days! Our little guy made great strides today. He's been completely weaned off the nitric oxide. This was the main medication that has been helping him breathe, so quite a huge accomplishment! His ventilator is back up to 37%, but the have to raise it to balance it out to make up for the loss of nitric oxide. They're working on weaning him of this too though and our doctor told us he wouldn't be surprised if they have him off the vent within 48 hours. This would be HUGE. He'd probably receive oxygen through his nose, but could get rid of the huge tube down his throat and he could then make sounds and cry-which we are dying to hear. He also began another big milestone today...eating. He had 3 feedings through his little feeding tube. Rather than just fluids, he received milk. They measure his tummy with a tape measure awhile after each feeding to see how he tolerated it. If his tummy bloats up it means he's not digesting it. But he did well and seemed to digest it pretty good each time. They even use a tube to draw out any milk from his belly that he didn't digest so they can measure it. At his 2nd feeding he was given 6ml, and only 2ml were left in his belly. Big progress! I was even able to add the first few drops of my milk to his 3rd feeding. I'm praying more arrives soon ;) but it still seemed awfully special to be able to do SOMETHING for him, even though it was a very tiny contribution. Just watching him lay there is such a helpless feeling. Tonight his nurse was working on him and he got so agitated. He was turning all red and fussing and you knew that if he had the ability to cry he'd be screaming his little head off. Little tears were running out of his eyes. It broke my heart! I just wanted to scoop him up and comfort him. Hopefully before too long. All the tubes have to come out of his belly before we can hold him. I really have no idea how long to expect that to be. Sometimes I feel like he's making such huge progress that we could be home with him in a week. Other times I wonder if it will be much, much longer. Although he's doing wonderful, we try to remain realistic that other problems may arise. He had an echo cardiogram done today at 4:30, so we're anxious to hear those results tomorrow. We also asked about the possibility of oxygen loss to the brain and any complications that may have caused. They don't see any signs of seizures or anything severe that causes them to think any damage was done, but they admitted it's always a concern and there are never any guarantees. It could be something that shows up developmentally during milestones such as turning over, crawling, etc. Only time will tell I guess. One thing I do know for sure is that I think we have one of the absolute cutest, softest, innocent, precious, sweet smelling, wrinkly, pink baby in the world and he is just PERFECT to us! Hope you enjoy the pictures that were taken over the last few days!


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