A Small Step Backwards

First off, Andrea is fine. We just hit a little bump in the road. Unfortunately, Andrea was not able to tolerate being off the CPAP. Her lungs were not expanding enough without the pressure, and she had to be removed from nasal cannula and put back on CPAP at 9 this morning. She was having considerable trouble breathing all night, and kept desating, despite increased oxygen. A chest x-ray this morning confirmed that her lung volume was drastically decreased, and the CPAP was reconnected. Andrea seemed quite annoyed at the change. She is back to her old tricks of yanking out the tube.

Fortunately, nothing else has changed for Andrea. She is on full feeds of 22 ml of fortified milk and MCT oil. She weighs 1170 grams (2 pounds, 9.3 ounces) gaining back the 5 grams she lost and adding 5 more. She was awake and alert when we visited today. For the first 10 minutes of kangaroo care, she was staring wide-eyed at daddy. Thanks to her awesome nurse, we have our first portrait of Mom, Dad and Andrea. Here we are.

Andrea's nurse temporarity removed the CPAP for the picture. Isn't she cute?

Please continue to pray for us. We see today as only a minor setback. Andrea has made it clear to us and her nurses that she will progress when she is good and ready to move on. We learned today that she wasn't ready for nasal cannula. The nurses and doctors will allow her to grow a little more, and then try again.

"Problems are not stop signs, they are guidelines."

Robert Schuller