Day 57: No more breathing tube!

Lily is no longer mechanically ventilated!

Such a great day! Lily was extubated today and is doing well on the air mask (SiPAP). She's on around 22% oxygen, just 1% above room air! Her pressures are 6/4, as opposed to 33/17 during the scare. It's amazing how resilient and powerful such a small body can be - the swings are fast, and we're very hopeful that this was the last big one - she's back to eat, sleep, and grow mode. And that's just where we want to stay!

So far she hasn't had any apneas or bradycardia's (touching wood). She has never done this before, but we're remaining cautious. Her lungs are sounding good, and though there is still a little fluid in them, it should dissipate over the next few days. She'll be on diuretics until the next step of support (nasal cannula).

We're all too aware that preemies can tire out when breathing on their own - but right now, we're focusing on the positive side of things - she no longer has a tube in her throat, hopefully won't ever have one again in her entire life!

Otherwise, she is up to 35mL bolus feeds and is tolerating them well. So far, so good! I held her tonight for about an hour, here are a few pictures

We're so incredibly thankful for our little miracle - so thankful for seemingly have made it through a very scary time. It still kind of feels like we're walking through a mine field, but it seems less densely mined and it we feel like we're on the right path to avoid another scare.

Thank you all for the support, positive energy, and prayers - I held a miracle this evening!