He has a healthy appetite!

He says, "Look!! Neither of my feet have lines in them!!"

Well hey little man!! Both eyes open, and he's enjoying the scenery...kind of. Sorry for the shade, we have to keep it dark for his eyes.

The nurse, Jana, taking one of his machines out of the room since he no longer needs it! Ok...it may be temporary if he needs a transfusion or drip of anything it will come back, but they have discontinued his TPN (artificial nutrition)!

Today had its ups and downs, as does every day really. I'll get the not so good stuff out of the way. Kale's lungs seem to be struggling a bit more than usual the past two days or so. They had to change his vent settings quite a bit today, up from 24 to 28 and he's been at about 70% oxygen. His SpO2 levels were all over the place today, from 40s to 90s and his blood gases didn't come back very good. The Drs. did a second lung x-ray to double check tube placement and see if his lungs looked more hazy than they did at his morning x-ray. I haven't heard back on the results yet, but I'm hoping this is just a spell, poor guy :( Also, his blood sugar is still all over the place, so they are continuing to watch that pretty closely.

On to the good news! Kale tipped the scales today at 1 lb. 15 oz.!!! As Derc would say, he's just dominating these feedings, haha! The Drs. increased him to 11 mls every 3 hours and he is still on fortified meals at 24 calories. The plan is to increase the fortification up to 27 calories tomorrow and probably stay at the 11 mls as this is considered a 'full feeding' for a baby his size. As he continues to pack on the grams he will continue to get his volume increased. So, the fact that he is on full feeds means that his TPN (artificial IV nutrition) was discontinued today. This also means that his PIC line was removed (the one that started in his heel and went up his leg to his belly region). Anytime we can remove lines is good as it decreases the risk for infection sites. Kale now has BOTH arms and BOTH legs clear of any IVs/lines/drips! Now his wire/tube count is down to 6 (I think he started at 12) with only his vent tube and feeding tube actually going into his body. The other wires are all leads to his heart monitor, pulse ox and blood pressure. Not to say IVs aren't still in the picture, he just hasn't needed a blood transfusion in a few days so they took that out.

The cardiologist and occupational therapist came in today to observe him. Dr. Becker (Kale's cardiologist) really just makes sure everything is the same since there is nothing he can do until Kale gets bigger. He was happy with where Kale was at with his heart rate and said the other day that if his heart rate stays in the low 100s that we may be able to delay a pacemaker for a few YEARS. Not that we're getting ahead of ourselves, but that was reassuring to hear. The occupational therapist observed Kale's movements and did some stretching with him since his back muscles seemed a bit tight. We talked about some different positioning we can do to help with this.

We hope tomorrow brings a better day for Kale's lungs as he seems to be going in the wrong direction, and we know it's stressful for the little guy. Thanks for keeping him in your thoughts and prayers!