Good Evening

James (top picture) is off the respirator and back on his cannula. They are still doing a bit of a balancing act to give him enough pain medication that he's not uncomfortable, but not so much that it affects his breathing. He was doing well during our visit this evening. He seemed quite comfy on his belly, so I guess his incision isn't bothering him too much.

They're still talking about Mattie coming home tomorrow, but to us it seems like there's still a list of things that were supposed to happen before discharge that haven't happened yet. He hasn't had his hearing test or gotten his two-month vaccinations, for instance. And we found out tonight that a possible side effect of one of the vaccinations for preemies is a temporary recurrence of apnea episodes for 24-48 hours after the vaccine, so it seems like a much better idea for them to do it while he's in the hospital (and can go back on his monitors) than to have us do it outpatient! (I feel that me trying to staying awake for 48 hours to make sure he's still breathing would not exactly do wonders for my mental health.) He's also still on three blood pressure meds, and we thought they were going to try to do some weaning to see if he actually needed all of them. So, while we're very excited to get him home, we feel that tomorrow may be rushing things a little bit.