What A Week!

Well it is amazing what all can happen in one week.... we started out last Sunday with the boys having their laser eye surgery. They will both be getting a checkup from the eye doctor this week, so we are hoping for good news that it was successful, etc.

On Monday, Ethan was off the ventilator and back on the nasal canula but having a really hard time breathing (sounding squeaky, kind of wheezy, like he was working really hard). Apparently, they had a hard time getting the vent tube in before the surgery so his airways were really inflammed and they had to give him several nebulizer treatments and IVs for a couple days to help reduce the inflammation. Due to Caleb having seizures before the surgery, he was so out of it, he wasn't breathing much at all on his own and letting the vent do the work. It was hard seeing them both having a hard time as it felt like we had gone 25 steps backwards.

On Tuesday, Ethan was put on the CPAP machine because they thought it would help open his airways more than the nasal canula was doing. He had made an improvement since Monday but was still working hard and getting treatments to help. Caleb was still on the ventilator and for the first part of the day still letting the machine do the work. While I was holding Caleb in the evening his tube came out and so they immediately put him on the nasal canula to see how he would do rather than put him back on the vent as the longer he was on the vent the harder it would be to get him off of it. Unfortunately at that time, it was too much of a change for him so then he was placed on the CPAP like his brother.

Wednesday they were both still on the CPAP machine and so needless to say the first part of the week was tough.

By Thursday afternoon they both attempted the nasal canula again and were doing well. Ethan's breathing was better and he didn't sound like he had swallowed a squeaky toy anymore. Friday and Saturday they continued on the nasal canulas and were able to continue to wean down their flow.

On to today... Caleb is doing well, he is at 2 liters of flow and not having many "spells". It will be interesting to see how much he gained tonight as he is cruising now with weight gain and isn't far behind his brother. He is such a strong little fighter!! Ethan decided he didn't want his nasal canula anymore and he was found with it resting on the bridge of his nose this morning. So his primary nurse decided to try him out without any breathing assistance at all and sure enough he was doing great and all of his levels looked wonderful! As of tonight when I left he had so far spent 10 hours without anything helping him! The nurse also tried feeding him a bottle today and he took almost a full feeding without a problem. So the evening feeding, I tried with him and he did great as well! They will continue to do every other feeding with a bottle since he gets tired so easily and then will eventually go to every feeding with the bottle.

So we went from the boys being on ventilators, to CPAP, to nasal canulas, and now Ethan without and bottlefeeding all in one week!! Amazing! We know and feel we are in the home stretch and cannot wait to bring these boys home to us!! Could June be their homecoming?!?!?! Only time will tell!