David had a great day – probably his best day in a while. I’ve never seen him so smiley and happy before. He was cooing and there was a time I felt as if he was close to a giggle.
He didn’t have very many changes today. Overnight, his oxygen was weaned to 21% (room air), and then today his volume was moved to 4 liters. This is where he was last week. He had a little work of breathing this morning, so they left him on high flow for the day so he wouldn’t have to work so hard. We’ll see what tomorrow brings in terms of his respiratory support. David also got to full feeds. He’ll be monitored to see how he handles it, but he’s handled it well in the past so I’m sure he’ll handle it fine moving forward. The next step will be to start fortifying it.
David started his day with respiratory therapy. He hates his nebs and screams through them – well, he screams as soon as one makes him cough and then until they end. Today they made him a little gaggy and he had some vomit with them. A short time later, OT and music therapy came in. Both of his main OTs are due with babies any day now, so we’re never sure who we’re going to see. David says he’s not going to miss those torturers when they are on leave, but I know he will since they know him best (their replacement knows him well too, but she’s bottom of the totem pole and only gets to see him when the others are off or when she stops in for a visit). David did fairly well for his therapy session before he got tired.
After therapy, he got cuddles. Lots and lots of cuddles. First up was his nurse. She was able to snuggle David since David actually has two nurses today and the other one could take over duties for the other kiddo that David’s paired with. It was so exciting for him to hang out with his nurse outside of his bed since she’s been there with him from his surgery and has seen him through so much. His nurse was able to read David some of his stories and just cuddle with him until he fell asleep. Eventually though, she had to get back to work, and then the resource nurse came in and “relieved” her by holding David herself. Once again David got to read more stories and was all smiles. Then our favorite volunteer stopped by for cuddles, but speech arrived at that same time. Since speech is important, David worked with them for a bit and was all smiles some more. Eventually the volunteer came back and David read more stories and sang songs with him before taking another nap in his arms. This afternoon, I got my cuddles in as well and then this evening we read a lot of books together. This evening Adam worked with David on tolerating his pacifier, and so far it’s kind of working. David chomps on it now without sucking, but that is still better than nothing.
Overall, David was happy being awake. The things that caused him discomfort are things typical for his age – like he got his NJ retapped so it wouldn’t touch his nose and leave a sore, he got a new dressing for his PICC line, got some glue off of his face, and he let everyone know his displeasure of nebs. Outside of those things, as the day went on, he shared his smile more and more frequently. David likes to be in competition with those around him. Yesterday, I told him his neighbor who he’s paired with was super smiley, and that’s a competition I’d be happy for him to compete in, as opposed to needing attention that David typically goes for. I think today David decided to join that competition.
Hoorah for a great day! Keep it up David and Mom.
🎊👍🏻🥳🎉 Happy dance for all the great news! There were many happy hearts today💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙
How wonderful to hear David had a better day! Smiles, books and cuddles … sounds like a little bit of paradise to me 💕
We all love hearing about David’s great days <3 He is so adorable. Always praying for all of you!
Hurray for smiles! And for cuddles. Fun to see the return of David’s bear pacifier too. Praying for his transitions, with new caregivers, and that he can keep feeling more at ease and keep breathing better.