As of 10:00 tonight, Matthew has had 3 feedings, all of which looked like they went fairly smooth. Yeah!!
He is doing really well on the conventional ventilator and he has even tolerated a decrease in the pressures. The chest x-ray showed that there is less cloudiness, which indicates that there is more air present and moving in his lungs. This was very encouraging to hear. His oxygen and carbon dioxide levels have been stable for most of the day. The ultrasound for the head was ordered today but it won't happen until tomorrow morning.
They have even moved him onto his tummy and he seems to really like that position (don't try this with young babies at home unless you have the monitors like they do). We have only seen him on his back for the last 25 days so it was shocking for us to see him on his stomach...literally. His head was covered and so were his legs when we got to his bedside...so the first thing we noticed was that his arms looked like they were on backwards...I know I know, but if you saw what we did you would have thought the same thing, then we suddenly realized he was on his tummy and relaxed. :) (well, ya know, the PT was working with his muscles earlier...ha ha)
Praise God for such a great day!! Please keep praying that the feedings will continue to go smoothly without complications, especially to the digestive system. Please pray that Matthew NEVER gets the NEC infection. Pray that his lungs will continue to grow and not collapse again (some areas of the lungs had been doing this) and to have the right amount of gas exchange, airflow and fluid throughout his lungs. Please continue to pray that the bleed in the brain does not get larger and that it goes away completely through the natural reabsorption of the blood in the ventricles. Please keep praying that the high bilirubin levels will come back to normal and that there are no complications with his liver.
Thank you again for your support and prayers!
