Thankful for Finn

Well, it has been a bit of an eventful few days since I last posted! Nothing too exciting, except that MY BABY DOESN’T HAVE A TUBE DOWN HIS THROAT ANYMORE!!!!!  I know the picture doesn’t show the whole story, because the “after” almost looks worse than the before, but it is SO MUCH better!  He can swallow and cough and CRY now.  All things he needs to be doing to continue getting bigger. The CPAP still supports his breathing, but it is not as invasive or as aggressive as the respirator.  The CPAP is set to a rate of 15 breaths per minute at about 50% oxygen right now.  I know that soon after he was transferred over to it, they turned the pressure up, but I don’t know if they turned it back down yet or not.  The next step is nasal cannula, which is the least invasive breathing apparatus, but we are not sure when to expect that.

I was at the hospital Monday and Tuesday.  There had been talk of removing the ventilator since the weekend, but they we’re getting the blood test results they wanted from Finn.  He was at a rate of 10, oxygen was as low as 40%, and the pressures were being turned up and down slightly every day, but he was staying the same.  On Tuesday morning, the doctor told me they would change him over Wednesday morning.  I had told my nurses and respiratory technicians (RT)  that if I was in the hospital, I wanted to see them do it.  I had also told them that I was leaving Tuesday afternoon as I needed to be home with my big kids on Wednesday since they were out of school.  So, shortly after noon on Tuesday, my favorite respiratory technician came in the room with a HUGE grin on her face, and she said, “We’re doing it now!”  I said, “NOW?!?!?!?” She replied, “Well, as soon as I get everything I need gathered up!” So, again, with the surprises!  The doctor was vacillating between leaving the tube in, and trying CPAP, and after talking to RT, decided the ventilator may have been what was holding him back, and to at least TRY the CPAP!  Here’s the video I made for Dad:

It is now Thursday morning, and he is tolerating it just fine!  He was SUPER mad at us for a solid hour after the switch, but once he got settled in and used to it, he has done just fine.  I had never seen him so active and agitated!  But of course, you would be too if the only way you knew how to breathe was through a tube in your throat and someone took it away and started shoving air in your nose to make you breath! LOL!  While I was kinda sad to see him so worked up, it was AWESOME to hear him cry!  He is working hard to come home for Christmas!  I  stayed a few extra hours just to make sure they weren’t going to have to go back on the respirator, then I came home to my big kids to start their long holiday weekend!

On Wednesday morning, I called in to check on Finn about 9am.  All was well with him – doing just fine with the CPAP.  The nurse was the same one we had on Tuesday, and we had also had her several days last week. During our conversation, she says to me “Oh! And he looks SO CUTE in his little outfit!”  WHAT?!?!?!  What outfit? He has clothes on? Whose clothes?  I didn’t bring clothes??? LOL! I knew they day was coming, as him roommate has been wearing clothes for a while now. She is bigger than him, and in an open crib on room air, and I didn’t know what the qualifications were for wearing clothes.  I found out it is 3 and a half pounds, but when Finn hit that marker, he still had a rigid tube down his throat.  So, for him, it was 3 and a half pounds, AND the tube was gone!  The nurse also said he peed all over the first outfit, so she had to get him another one!  There is a stash of preemie clothing in the NICU, and parents are welcome to bring their own.  We have set aside a few things to take with us when we go see him today.   They nurse said she wished she could send me a picture.  I’m kind of sad I missed his first day in clothes, but I will see him today – and take pictures!

On Thanksgiving, we reflect on what we are thankful for.  Simply put, I am thankful for Finn.  But that extends so far beyond just my baby and his life.  It’s the lives he has touched beyond the walls of the NICU or this home.  It is my family who have loved and supported us unconditionally through the toughest road I have ever followed. It is my church family, friends and prayer warriors who have begged God for His mercy and provision for this baby, for me, and for our family.  It is the people who have read or will read this blog and see the love of Jesus shining through and get to see how powerful a relationship with Him can be.  It is the patience, knowledge and courage that have been fostered in me personally over the last few months.  It is LOVE.  Thank you Finn, for bringing that to me, to our family, to the WORLD!