Day 19 in the NICU

Noah's improvement continues to go swimmingly. He is already down to 21% oxygen, meaning he is breathing in the same amount of oxygen as we do in the air. So, if he continues to do well, the nurses will be able to take his cannula out tomorrow. We are grateful for this news, as we were told earlier that a lot of babies with MAS have to come home on oxygen.
Noah was also weaned from .1 mg/kg/hr to .05 mg/kg/hr on his morphine. The doctor said he may be able to be taken off of the morphine entirely by tomorrow. They have also increased his food intake so he does not have to receive any supplemental feedings.

Teaching Noah how to eat will be the longest process now and will be what will determine when he will be able to come home. He is still receiving all of his feeds through a tube down his nose. He will need to be able to tolerate food all at once, instead of spread out evenly. Right now, he receives feedings for two hours and then has an hour in between. He will need to eat all the food for a half hour and then have 2 1/2 hour breaks between before they will start him on a bottle.

The biggest praise of the day, though, was that the doctor was actually willing to make an estimate as to when we might be able to bring Noah home with us. The doctor thought that Noah may be able to come home with us in a weeks time. Of course, she clarified that it was just an estimate and would depend on Noah's progress. We were so grateful that she felt comfortable enough to make an estimate.

So, here are our prayer requests for the evening:
1. Pray that Noah would no longer need oxygen support
2. Pray that Noah's lungs would continue to heal- they are a lot better, but even when we will take him home, they will not be at 100% for quite some time
3. Pray that Noah would no longer need Morphine
4. Pray that Noah would learn how to eat
5. Pray that would continually be glorified through this process

Have a blessed night.