He passed the test...almost

Today when we called the nurse for an update she mentioned that they might be converting Mason to the CPAP machine or side PAP. We were very excited because this means that he would extubated (the tube that is helping him breath would be removed and he would basically be responsible for breathing with a little assistance). When we got there for rounds they mentioned he had continued to have good blood gases and that he would be given a one minute test to see how well he could handle breathing by himself. He had to get atleast a 50% for them to be able to consider extubating. Basically all of his other labs were looking good and the only change was decreasing his hydrocortisone by 20%. They aren't going to consider feeding him right now since they were considering changing to the CPAP and they only want to make one big change at a time. The respiratory therapist came to do the test and it actually was a 10 minute test (even though the name is 1 minute test) that looked at his rates and ability to sustain himself for over a 10 minute period. He did pretty good (from our stand point) but near the end he did drop down on his stats to 78% which shows he was getting a little tired. She said that his percentage was 220% but that she didn't feel comfortable switching him over yet because the kind of machine he was on didn't measure over time so she would like to switch him over to a different machine that measured atleast a 24 hour period and then they could also use that information to make their decision. I would much rather them take their time with this since this is a pretty big step. We have been told that a lot of babies are extubated and then they have to go back in intubation because they get too tired from breathing on their own. We are in this for the long haul so I am fine to wait and just keep praying that his whole body continues to develop and get stronger so it can function more on its own without all of this extra help (even though I am glad that it is there for him).

I got to do skin to skin with him for a bit today (also called "kangaroo care"). We both really enjoyed it and he got snuggled up and went to sleep on me. You really take a lot of things for granted until you have something like this happen. It just feels good to hold your baby, even though it may be around tubes, beeps, and tons of machines. I could sit there for hours. 

We continue to pray for you Mason. Every night during prayers, Corbin says "Mason sleeping". He sure loves his little brother. I look forward to the days when they can play together even though they seem very far off right now.