June 19th updates

A few updates on Blake - in list form. :)

He had the line for the TPN taken out yesterday. This was the last line going into his belly button. We still can't just pick him up whenever because of the sensors & oxygen tubes but now when they allow us to hold him we don't have to worry about a line that's going into a major artery.

They did another sonogram of his heart yesterday morning. The results were very encouraging. The small hole in his heart is even smaller and they're pretty confident that it'll finish healing up on it's own. The side of his heart that was weaker is gaining strength and nearly equal to the other side, and the thickening of the muscles of his heart is almost completely normal. This is VERY good news. Blake's doctor says there will be one follow up visit with a cardiologist and anticipates no future issues.

Today they raised his feedings to 3oz at a time which they say is now appropriate for his weight. Now they've taken him off of all supplemental nutrition including clear fluids and he is receiving breast milk ONLY. :) The doctor said once they get two normal blood glucose readings (they've gotten one as of now - just one more!) they will stop poking his heel and testing him altogether, meaning they will no longer consider his glucose to be an issue! YAY!

Lastly, his respirations have greatly improved over the last 24 hours and are running normal most of the time. They don't want to turn his air flow down yet since they like to make sure he's stable for at least 24 hours before they start to wean it down. HOWEVER, as of this morning his doctor said if he is calm and breathing below 70 at time of feeding, we can attempt a bottle! He hasn't quite gotten there yet but this is great news!

So basically things are looking REALLY good for mister Blake. His swelling and bruises from birth are gone and he looks like a normal and adorable little baby. We can't wait to bring him home but we are waiting patiently. On Thursday we take the class (Infant CPR & carseat safety) that they require parents to take before taking their baby home. Still no news on when that might be but hopefully we'll get an idea soon. Thank you for ALL of the prayers and well wishes.. they are WORKING WELL!! :)