Great Day!

First, Andrew is doing great on the CPAP. Even his nurse today (who is a tough, 30+ year pro) said that he was doing great...really, really great. His oxygen levels have decreased to around 50% (remember, they were up to 90% when he started CPAP, and hovering in the 60-70 range for the first several days), and his blood gasses look good too, with his Co2 around 45. She said she would have expected his Co2 to be much, much higher based on the xrays of his lungs. So, he's still working hard, and somehow managing to continue to exceed expectations. Lately, I've been sitting by his isolette just shaking my head at how amazing and strong he is.

The best news of the day though is that I finally got to hold him! John has been awesome at advocating for this for awhile, and now that A finally settled down and was maintaining his oxygen levels, our awesome night nurse Nikki took him out for me! Getting him out was a bit of a challenge (making sure all his tubes and lines came with him), and I have to admit I was pretty nervous. She warned us that he might not tolerate it, and we could expect desats. Before I knew it, he was in my arms!
I only held him for about 10 minutes, but what a great 10 minutes that was! He had his eyes open for part of the time, and we got our first real mother/son moment. And, the boy didn't desat once! Before she put him back in the isolette, I got to kiss his sweet head for the first time as well. Hopefully, we'll be doing much more of this, and I can't wait for John to hold him as well. He is still so light, it was kind of strange to have him wrapped up in my arms. But it felt good. What a day! We're blessed!