Footloose and Cannula Free!

Today was a tremendous day. We went to the pulminologist (Dr. Brown) today, and he decided that Henry could be without supplemental oxygen! We immediately took the nasal cannula (oxygen tubes up his nose) off. For the first time in his life, he doesn't have a single tube or wire attached. He's gone wireless! No more trying to walk to the kitchen to get a bottle with Henry in one hand and a rolling canister of oxygen in the other. No more worrying about stepping on the tubes and yanking his head off. No more yelling at the dogs for getting tangled in the mess of tubing or at Bitsy for playing amongst the tubes. No more looks for people in the doctors' offices wondering why I have a big backpack on with tubes running to our baby. What welcome progress.

I was a bit surprised because they didn't do much of an evaluation. They watched his saturation level for a few minutes, while on the oxygen and while off it. He pretty much maintained 100% the whole time which was good enough for them. We knew he could stand being without the added oxygen because he had done it for a couple hours in the nicu once. The concern is that he will tire after a time and need to be put back on it. We get to keep all the equipment for now until they are absolutely sure he doesn't need it. The major thing we need to look for is his weight. If he keeps gaining weight, then his oxygen level is fine without the supplementation. If he doesn't gain weight, then they might put him back on.

Henry is also growing very well right now as well. I feel a bit guarded on this front. So many times it has seemed he was about to take off only to have him stall again. This time though, it might be for real. He's been gaining at least an ounce a day for the last week or two. Yesterday he gained 2.5 ounces in one day, putting him at 7lbs 7.5 ounces. Today the doctors office weighed him at 7lbs 8 ounces but I don't really trust their measurements. They tried to tell us that he only weighed 6 pounds once when we knew he was around 6lbs 14 ounces. We didn't weigh him on our scale today. I was hoping he would make a big jump again today because he ate more yesterday than he ever had before, 719mls.

Tomorrow we have a follow up with the GI doctor, Hassan. He will be checking to make sure that Henry really isn't having any blood in his stool. If not, then we might have to test the theory that it was the fortifier of the breast milk that caused his bloody stool. If that is true, then Kate could eat dairy and soy again which would be great for her.

I'm too tired to say much. Here's a thousand words instead. Isn't he handsome when you can see his face?