Is the third time a charm?

Hello and good morning from my warm and toasty isolet. I'm sorry for not writing yesterday, but it was a very busy day.

First, my doctor #3 came in and told mommy and daddy that she was going to lower my ventilator settings a whole bunch. If I did well on the lower settings then she was planning to extebate me before the day was done. My ventilator was set for 14 Pip, 8 Peep, and a rate of 10 breathes per minute. The ventilator was only going to breathe ten times for me in a whole minute if I didn't breathe....talk about a grueling job for me!!!!! These doctors are forcing me to breathe, how rude! Although, mommy and daddy are quite happy with the doctors wanting to force me to breathe...daddy says I'm old enough to breathe on my own so I should be doing just that.

Those changes were made at 10:45 am on May 27, 2006. Then, around 4:00 pm I was extebated for the third time during my hospital stay. Mommy, daddy, and I are really hoping that this time I remain extebated, but all we can do is wait and see.

While I'm technically not on the ventilator anymore, the type of CPAP I am on now is not much different than the ventilator. It's more of a baby step this time. Because I was ornery with the previous CPAP mask that the doctors put me on, this time they have acted quite intelligently. That old CPAP was yucky! I learned very quickly to pull it off, and when I couldn't do that I would stretch my head back and turn it really quickly so the nasal prongs would land anywhere but in my nose. And the head piece was connected so tightly around my head that it messed up my chubby cheeks! I'm serious.....my chubby cheeks were just chubby, not cute!

So this new CPAP is actually another hose. This hose has been inserted into my nose, approximately 5 centimeters so that it is resting right above my airway. I'm not too fond of things in my nose and this hose has been making me sneeze quite a bit, but when I'm left alone to rest, I do pretty well with it.

The doctors also changed my O2 parameteres. Now I have to maintain an O2 saturation between 92 and 98 %. I've maintained that now for about 12 hours and appear to be doing well. I have desaturated a few times, but it has only been when the nurses are changing me or feeding me or just bugging me in general....which is exactly their job and deep down I love them for taking care of me.....it's just so hard to behave for them sometimes.

Doctor #3 told mommy and daddy not to be surprised if I am on CPAP for about a month. There are numerous kinds of CPAP so I won't necessarily keep this hose in my nose. My lungs aren't old enough to be able to survive without the PEEP (pressure) to keep them expanded, so the doctors wanted to insure that I was receiving the PEEP at all times. They needed to use a CPAP that I couldn't pull away from my face, like I did with the nose prongs.

At least this nose hose won't make my cheeks all puffy and red:)

Mommy and daddy told me that we are moving into our new house next weekend. They snuck home for a few hours last weekend and today to pack up as much stuff as they can. A lot of our friends have graciously volunteered to help with the move....or maybe mommy and daddy are making them help, I don't really know:) I'm just happy I don't have to help with the move. Hopefully they can move everything really quick so mommy and daddy can come back to the hospital and be with me, I miss them when they are gone. I thought about figuring out a way to sneak out of my isolet and climb into daddy's pocket so I could go with them, but I think the nurses would miss me too much. Plus, I don't want mommy and daddy to get into trouble, so I guess I'll just nap while they are gone.