Baby clothes for the first timeThe good news continues. Sammy has been breathing on his own since Thursday morning. I thought I'd wait a few days to check that he means it this time and it feels like he does! He still has apnoeas a few times a day but these are declining quite encouragingly. Today’s Alphafeto Protein (AFP) level was at 16,000 - exactly half of what it was a week ago. AFPs are the things that correlate positively with apnoea levels. Still a way to go on them but very positive sign at any rate. Paul and the nurses are becoming decidedly upbeat.
He's been out of the womb now for exactly 2 months but we generally think of him as still needing to be born in a month as that's his developmental age. Though looking at him with the double chin he is still sporting below (the final remnant of his infections) I would put him closer to 80.
Fat boy weighs 1820 grams – more than double his birth weight – and sucked a couple of times on a bottle today for the first time (he’s still fed via a pipe down to his stomach) So many encouraging answers to prayers in the past week.
On a sobering note we did our infant CPR course with other family members over the weekend and are beginning to prepare for the little fella’s homecoming. We are still genuinely terrified at the prospect! Paul reckons we should be thinking around the end of the month if his progress continues at this rate. Please pray that it will because actually it will be incredible not to have to spend four to five hours a day in a hospital any more. Pray too for the continued lowering of the AFPs and that Sam’s reflux (food coming back up from his stomach – the doctors generally laugh at my descriptions) would diminish as this is one cause of apnoea.
We are humbled by your support in so many ways as ever
1 comment:
Great news and well done to all of you. Think he looks a little like Ralph???
We are still praying hard from Downunder.
Love Allison, Steve and Lachlan
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