Day 27 - Moving on Up

Tuesday, January 26th, 2021

Morning: The news came earlier than we anticipated and what a great start to the day!  Since James had a great night with his bowel movement, his blood gas, his X-ray, his amplitude, his FIO2, and his pressure, Baby James has moved from the High-frequency oscillatory ventilation to the conventional ventilator this morning around 9am.  We are very pleased with his progress as the steroid is winding down to the final day.  He is that much closer to skin to skin and breathing on his own. 

It is also much quieter in here now.  It's going to be a nice change for all of us so we can have more intimate book reading and conversations with our little buddy.  James also got wind of the Bernie Sanders memes going around, so he now gets to wear some cool mittens too. 😊 

Mom and Dad got to join James at the same time the top of the incubator roof was up, so we got some great hands on and a few great photos. 

With James getting 18 ML per feed and is getting fed 8 times daily, he's consuming 144 ML daily. At 26 calories per every 30 ML, James is taking in approximately 125 calories daily.  With this rate, James should begin gaining 15-30 grams on the daily fairly consistently and should reach 1000g in around 7-10 days or less.  This will be a next win we are awaiting.

Info on ventilators

High-frequency oscillation (HFO) ventilation differs from conventional ventilation in that very small breaths are delivered very rapidly (180 to 900 breaths per minute). Both require a tube down his throat. HFO helps with the opening of collapsed lung tissue by providing constant positive pressure in a person's airway.

Conventional mechanical ventilation refers to the use of a positive pressure ventilator to deliver tidal breaths with conventional target/cycling parameters via an endotracheal tube or tracheostomy tube. The ventilator may be used to completely or partially perform the work of breathing.