5 weeks old!

Addison had to be turned back up on the ventilator. He had a blood gas come back with co2 level of 86. The nurse said they like it to be in the 40's. So he went from 48bpm to 52. Two more than yesterday when they turned him down. The good news is that his blood gas was perfect in the afternoon. He's been behaving wonderfully and tolerating his feedings. He really likes to keep his little hands wrapped around the vent tube. I'm sure it won't be long before it gets pulled out again. He is now getting xopenex (like albuterol but without the nasty side effects) every 6 hours instead of every 12. He seems to desat and once he gets his breathing treatment, does much better. His lungs are still "wet" and he's kind of raspy so they have to suction him every so often.

Riley is staying strong on the cpap. His blood gases are coming back low, he's not having any apnea episodes, and he's content as can be. The respiratory therapist explained that there's certain levels of cpap. Right now, Riley is on a 7. It has to do with how much oxygen is being pushed through the tubes. Once they get down to 4, they will try to nasal cannula as long as everything else is going well. That's not for a while but it is kind of nice to have mini goals for him. He was wide awake today when we were in. He was just lying there, looking all around, and loving the attention. He got his last round of antibiotics late last night but they are keeping the iv in for now, just in case. They said they had a hard time finding a place to put the iv and they wanted to leave it in just to be safe.

Just as a size comparison, if you look at Riley's picture, take notice of the safety pins. They're regular, standard size safety pins. Also, the tube that goes across his face and connect the

blue and white tubes is only 3 inches long. They've both got a lot of growing to do but they're already noticeably bigger than when they were born.