A breath of fresh air!

Our little David was extubated today!! He is breathing beautifully and his blood gas values are actually better without the vent than they were with the vent. He is now on the Vapotherm (nasal cannula) and they were able to reduce the oxygen supplementation already today. His eye exam also came back with no signs of ROP (retinopathy of prematurity) as of yet. His eyes are still very immature though, so the weekly eye exams will continue and could change at any time. We were so excited to receive such good news today though. His face is so sweet - and he was wide awake the whole time we were there this evening. We even got to bathe him in his little incubator. Brent did a wonderful job with that - wiping him clean and covering him with lotion. Then David sucked on his tiny pacifier happily for about 30 minutes. We are just so excited about his progress!! He was up to 2 pounds 12 ounces but lost a bit today and is now 2 pounds 10 ounces. (Maybe we'll have a chunky monkey day tomorrow?)

Mary Louise is officially off of Vapotherm. So, she no longer has a tube across her face and is breathing entirely on her own!! Brent and I gave her her first sink bath tonight!! It was absolutely thrilling. (Really - tonight was just beyond words wonderful). Her eye exam did show that she has stage one ROP which we were told corrects itself most of the time. Surgical intervention is not indicated unless stage III ROP is detected. Again - weekly eye exams will continue. She is now 2 pounds 12.5 ounces and just barely beginning to fill out in some areas. (YAY!)

Brent and I had such a good time tonight - we heard both of our babies cry a bit - Mary Louise is getting quite loud actually - we also got to do some "normal" parent things - change diapers, give baths, help with the changing of the bed linens. We just couldn't have been more excited.

Hoo-ray for a good day!! Keep breathing babies - keep breathing.

Love,
Heather

Oh my - I almost forgot...we moved up in the NICU hierarchy! We are no longer tucked in the darkest corner of the NICU. No no, the LeBlanc babies are now taking up the big bright far wall by the window! Technically, it's not really closer to the door, but it's farther up in the NICU line! Ha - now Brent says he misses our dark little corner as it was quieter and we were more out of the way there. I'll take any improvement we get - even if this one is sort of imaginary!