Good Morning

We made it through the night OK. I woke up at 11pm to Bobby's breathing tube being suctioned for the first time. That is a pretty horrible sight. The poor little thing is screaming with discomfort but you can't hear him because the tube blocks out all sound. You have to go by his furrowed brows and red face to know when he's beginning to relax. All I can really do is stand by him and push the voluntary morphine hit every 8 minutes.

They are going to try to extubate him this morning. He is breathing over his ventilator with no problems. Right now his respiratory rate is 21 and only 6 of those breaths come courtesty of the ventilator. The main problem is that he is not maintaining his oxygen saturation. Along with the ventilator pushing air into his lungs, he's also breathing in air that is 45% oxygen. Normal room air is only 21%. With this extra help he's only at minimally acceptable oxygen saturation in his body. None of this is new - we went through it when he was born and when he had his last surgery. His lungs just need a few days of help to get back at peak efficiency. Once the breathing tube is removed they'll give him the oxygen cannula for a bit of extra help.

He started his diuretics this morning. That will help reduce the swelling. His poor little eyes are almost swollen shut this morning. They are covered in goo from all of his crying but we don't want to wipe thim off because even a light brush makes his eyelids swell more. Right now he is getting some extra blood to help his heart healing along. Its going to be a very sore - and when the tube is removed - very loud day for Bubs.

For our part, Valerie and I did manage to get some sleep last night. Bubs was very comfortable between suctions and he has a nurse all to himself so I was able to let her attend to him. Only one parent can stay in the room at night so Valerie ended up on a cot in the waiting room. She is happy to report minimal snoring on the part of her fellow sleepers.