Another exciting day in the NICU
Recently our friend Dan asked if Nathan’s antics as he travels the road to recovery are normal in the NICU. We have no idea, but they seem to be normal for Nathan.
You remember that at 5am on Tuesday, just twelve hours after surgery, Nathan moved from a breathing tube to CPAP after coughing the breathing tube out and demonstrating that he really didn’t need it. In the all of two days since then Nathan’s been making it abundantly clear that on comparing the two, he does not like CPAP any better than the breathing tube, by, of course, working to pull it out! (We really need to invest in mittens to hide those grabby fingers…) Well, it turns out Nathan’s been having such success weaning on CPAP that when we arrived today his nurse told us that he’d likely be moving to a nasal cannula (another way to deliver supportive air pressure and oxygen if it’s needed, but less supportive than CPAP). We were a bit surprised that it was happening so soon, but thrilled. Even more thrilling was when they decided to make the switch while we were there. As of 2pm, no more scuba gear or white tape mustache – now we can really see our little guy! Nathan also wore his first real shirt today, a gift from the NICU. It has ambulances on it.
Nathan also had his first eye exam this morning. All preemies get an eye exam around 34 weeks (his gestational age) to see how the eyes are developing outside of the womb and to make sure nothing is growing abnormally. The report is that his eyes are still immature, so the doctors will continue to observe their development and he’ll have another eye exam in two weeks.
So that’s the latest from the NICU – photos and video will be posted soon.
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Smiling with you!
We 5 Van Nesses will be together tomorrow and we will be sending our joint hopes and prayers to the the little guy so he will keep being so feisty!
So happy to hear all the good news and progress that Nathan is making! There are many people praying for his continued recovery and praying for you both as well! Can't wait to see the latest addition to the family. Another nephew to spoil and we're looking forward to it!