Saturday, June 18, 2011

Today was one of those days...you know the type...where God does exceedingly, abundantly above all you could ask or imagine...yeah, we had one of those!

I went home last night, David spent the night at the hospital, and we planned to trade places this morning. When I got to the hospital, I met today's doctor right away with news that he planned to move Aaron from the oscillator to the ventilator. I was unprepared for this, and I prayed over him that God would keep him safe and help him do well with the transition. The doctor actually invited us to be part of his rounds with Aaron's nurse. He was amazed at how much Aaron has improved over the past few days. Aaron had been monitored on the ventilator before the switch, and the doctor felt like he was ready for it. Quickly after this discussion, Aaron was changed over to the ventilator, and the doctor was immediately thrilled with his performance. The ventilator was actually doing very little to help Aaron; he was doing most of the work on his own. He was shortly after taken off the nitric oxides. Two huge machines in his room...GONE!

At this same time, the doctor began to wean Aaron from his heart medication. He was gradually weaned over a period of six hours, and he has done great without the medication. His blood pressure stayed right where the doctor wanted it.

I went out for a little bit, and when I returned the doctor popped in and said that he wanted to watch Aaron for a total of twelve hours from the time he went on the ventilator and then, if all was well, to extubate him (take the tube out of his throat). Sure enough, he was pleased with Aaron's performance! Aaron had done most of the breathing on his own, and he showed no signs of apnea. He was extubated and put on the nasal tubes. We were able to take some pictures of his full face for the first time! I was able to hear him just a little bit,too! The doctor was again immediately please with the results, and he almost left Aaron on the small nasal tubes, but he decided to put the larger ones in rather than push him since he had accomplished so much for the day.

So, as I said, God has done exceedingly, abundantly MORE than we could have asked or imagined! Aaron's team of caretakers today was amazing!!!

The next prayer focus for Aaron is that he continues to breathe well. Also, within the next few days he will be introduced to food. We need to especially pray for this because there is a concern that he has a disorder which causes the fat from his food to be deposited directly into his lungs rather than his blood. The thought is that this may have been why he was so fluid-filled at birth. When they introduce the food, they will do it very slowly in order to determine if this is occurring. If he does have the disorder, it can take weeks to heal. Please pray that this is not the case.

Once again, thank you for standing with us through this entire situation! God has been faithful! You have been amazing encouragers, but even more importantly, your prayers have been heard!

On a very lighthearted note, Aunt Amber took Isaac out to see his cousins on Thursday. While she had him she asked if he remembered his baby brother's name. Isaac said no; Amber reminded him. Isaac said, "Oh yeah, Aaron. And Lightning McQueen; that's the name I picked for him." Aunt Amber bought a Lightning McQueen for Aaron from Isaac. They are going to be such great brothers!

This is Aaron is his regular attire...huge breathing tube sticking out of his mouth

Here he looks like he is praying

Here he is, about to be extubated!

The first time I saw his entire face!!!

In his new attire with the nasal tube...yay, Aaron, we knew you (and God) could do it!