Day 24

Today was a fantastic day! It began by going to church at Ardmore Baptist. After the sermon, Mommy and Daddy went to a quick lunch with Granny, Papa, and Uncle David then headed to the hospital to see little man.

Mommy and Daddy were able to talk to the nurse practitioner David about Walker's care and his very detailed plan for the day.  He had run several labs on Walker and had decided that today was the day for him to switch from the NIPPV with the reminder breaths to the straight CPAP where he would be breathing on his own.  To help Walker do this, they had decided to up his caffeine intake to help him be more alert and help with his breathing.  Guess Mommy didn't have to stay away from those diet mt. dews after all!  David also said they were going to give Walker extra iron to try to help raise his hemoglobin, which was down to 8.1.  They are trying to avoid having to give him another blood transfusion if at all possible.  They are also hoping that if Walker can continue to maintain his feeds in the next day or two they can remove is PICC line.  He was up to 10cc for his feeding at 12 today and tonight will go up again to 11cc which is great for such a little guy!  We really hope he can continue doing well with his feedings so that he can get off the other fluids and be getting everything he needs from Mommy's milk.

After hearing all this Mommy and Daddy knew that Walker had a tough but hopefully successful day ahead of him, and it was time for him to show everyone how strong he was by breathing on his own.  After upping his caffeine at noon, they put him on straight CPAP at around 4 and every waited anxiously to see how he would do.  Lil Walker took right off breathing all on his own and kept his oxygen concentration under 30%, making everyone very proud!  He was able to continue this all evening and was still doing great at only 27% oxygen when Mommy and Daddy left for the night.

Walker also had a visit from Mimi and Bart and his great grandparents Sara and Arnold Terry.  They got to see how well Walker was doing with his breathing this afternoon and boy were they proud.  It is so special for Walker to have these visits from his great grandparents not everyone is so fortunate to have such wonderful great grandparents in their lives! 

After talking with Walker's nurse, Mommy and Daddy decided that it would be best not to do any kangarooing tonight considering what a big day the lil guy had already had.  Mommy was sad she didn't get to hold her Walker tonight, but she wanted him to have all his energy to focus on breathing and growing bigger.  We have quickly learned through this experience, everything with Walker is a day by day balancing act, to try to make the best decisions for him.  

Please pray for Walker that he is able to continue on the CPAP and that God will give him the strength and energy he needs to breath on his own and to continue to grow each day.  

YAY Baby Walker!