Kale is Breathing on his own!!

Everyone i have to apologize from the start. this is not Steph updating the blog, this is her non blogging husband Derc.... please forgive me... this will probably seem like cave man writing...

Well.... we woke up and called in to see how Kale was doing and everything was pretty solid his gas was good and he had a good night.

i get a call at around 11:15am at work from Steph and the Doctor decided to extubate Kale!! So we both rushed to the hospital at lunch, i got there first and Kale had been extubated and was on the vapotherm oxygen, which goes through little tubes in his nose, along with his feeding tube now. So this new oxygen, does not help him breath, it just forces on burst into his lungs and he has to do the rest. His first gas was right on with the one before they took him off the old vent, which is great! His next gas is around 4 pm this afternoon, then i am guessing later again tonight if it is good. He is now 3lbs 6oz and is really starting to look like a real baby. We will try and add pictures as soon as we can, our computer is down for a couple days at home.

Another note: Kale had his first eye exam on Thursday. The eye doctor looked for ROP which Steph can explain but it means the blood vessels in his eyes are not growing properly. Well the eye doctor stated that he does have immature retinas (which is common in preemies as early as he was) so they are going to keep monitoring him evey week. There was some more good news though. Apparently there is a box on the eye doctors sheet that she can check (mild ROP) which she did not check. so no ROP for Kale at this check up! We will keep praying ROP does not develop.

For now, please knock on some wood and say some prayers! Hopefully he doesn't have to go back on a vent and his eyes keep developing, the doctors are concerned he has already been on the vent too long.

Thank you for all your prayers and thoughts!!!