1,380 grams = 3 pounds 1 ounce
This afternoon was one of the biggest milestones so far for Hailey. Her breathing tube is gone as is her Avea ventilator. It has been replaced by air bursts through her nose controlled by an Infant Flow SiPAP.
She responded very well to the change other than trying, successfully on more than one occasion, to pull the prongs out of her nose. One time she managed to pull the prongs over to her cheek. Another time she had it in her mouth.
Once she was switched to a small mask that covers the whole nose she began to settle down a little and either could not or no longer had the desire to pull it off. For a while she was down to 21 percent oxygen, room air, but then settled in the high twenties.
Now that the breathing tube is out she can make noise. In the forty seven days since she was born she has been unable to make an audible cry. This afternoon we heard her for the first time. It wasn't really a cry, more of a squeak. It will take her a little while to recover from the breathing tube before she is making a "normal" baby cry. (Her feeding tube is still in her mouth but that is small enough to not interfere.)
All of this could be a case of two steps forward, one step back. Everything is at the ready in her room from the breathing tube kit to the ventilator itself, should she end up not tolerating the SiPAP.
In preparation, this morning she was given an IV in her head for a blood transfusion and Lasix. They chose to put it in her head because they needed a good vein and the ones on her arms and legs have really all been used. That was all done and over with when Christine and I arrived at the hospital, but we were there for the extabation.
