Comfy Carter

Saturday Night, 3/8/14

Carter was taken off of the ventilator at around 1pm today.  He was placed back on the CPAP machine and has been holding his own but it has been a challenge.  His oxygen saturation has been up and down all day.  They have had to raise the settings and support and he has been retaining carbon dioxide.  Tonight a respiratory therapist named Katie came in and she has been a miracle worker.  She performed a deep endotracheal suction on Carter then began albuterol treatments.  So far this has helped him quite a bit.  He seems a lot more comfortable and we are praying that this will be the answer to him maintaining his saturation level with as minimal support as possible.  The respiratory system is one of the biggest challenges for babies Carter's size and age.  Katie the respiratory therapist explained that they have to find the perfect recipe of support for his current lung development that will keep him comfortable while at the same time providing just enough support so he is doing the work and keeping up.  This will be a continuous process since a baby's lungs are not fully developed until they are about 36 weeks old.  Today Carter is technically 28 weeks.

He is still tolerating his feeds well.  He is still getting 1 mL every 3 hours and we expect that they will start to increase this in the next couple of days.  We are also hopeful, as is Carter that the phototherapy will be removed within the next day or two.  Sweet dreams baby Carter!