No more tube!

We have learned not to count our chickens before they're hatched so... I waited a week to let everyone know that Fin is off his ventilator and doing great!  He is now on high flow oxygen through a nasal canula but we are almost off of that now too.  He is having to work a bit at his breathing due to the pressure that is put on his lungs from his organs below, but he is stronger everyday and everyone is very confident that he will not have to be re-intubated.  Here he is!

He is a very happy boy and Rick's and my stress level has gone down a notch!  This was a HUGE step.  In addition to this change, he is just about off the narcotics... we had a rough couple of days of withdrawals but our incredibly strong boy made it through with the help of a medication change, some very patient nurses and mommy and daddy of course.  

Now, on to the big challenge - the feeding.  Two days after his breathing tube was removed, we started on breast milk through a bottle and he did great!  It was as if he'd been doing it from the beginning.  I was completely amazed!  We had a small set back the next day when he stopped wanting to swallow, but we figured out his throat and nasal passages were swollen and this was causing him some obvious discomfort. It took a day to get him back on track and it's slow going but we are working at it.  Mommy and Fin are practicing our breast feeding and he is doing well, but he still has to take most of his milk through the tube in his nose.  It's so important for him to gain weight so the tube feeding is necessary for now.  The goal is to get him off the feeding tube and we have every confidence that this will happen soon.  Patience and dedication!!

We are in the home stretch (fingers crossed) and we cannot wait to bring him home.  On the bright side, we can hold him whenever we want!  He is developing such a personality.... he smiled for the first time just the other day and I just about fell over.  I called the nurse in and she came running thinking something was wrong and I just stood there and cried and said, "he smiled at me!"  Fin smiling = mom's heart melting.  

Thanks as always to family and friends for all of your loving support!  We couldn't get through this without you... the positive energy and all the love and well wishes has made such a huge difference to our family and we love you all so much!  

Love, xoxoxo Finley, Daria & Rick