Posted Apr 10, 2007 8:46am

Day 58
2 pounds 11 ounces

Ryan had a pretty good day yesterday. He also had a busy day. They turned the ventilator down to 5! The pressure was turned down to 19. He tolerated the changes well throughout the day. He was started on 3 new medications: Decadron, a steroid, for reducing inflammation in his lungs; Zantac to help counteract some of the negative side effects of the steroid; and Caffeine that stimulates the drive to breathe (If I would have known he needed caffeine I would have been enjoying a cup or two of coffee every morning). When the caffeine really got into his system he became one squirmy little boy. I was holding him during that time and every time he moved he would set off the oxygen alarms. The nurse and RT stood by our side for a half hour or more tending to the alarms and ventilator. He was so cute during this and all of us enjoyed watching him. He licked his hand, the ventilator tubing, me. He kept trying to turn his little head towards me which would have dislodged the ventilator tube if he could have turned his head just a little more. He also grabbed his ventilator tube in every which way he could get his little fingers around it, and he pulled. It was almost as though he was really trying to get that tube out! The night nurse was hoping that he would pull the tube out since he is so close to having it removed anyway.

He had a brain ultrasound yesterday. The results were the same as the previous scan showing a possible grade 1 brain bleed. The eye doctor looked at Ryan's eyes. He didn't see any signs of ROP. He will recheck his eyes in a couple of weeks.

All of these things are so awesome! God is so good. We give him all glory. We realize that Ryan shouldn't be here, and definately not doing as well as he has been doing. We know that according to the calendar system that doctors use for calculating pregnancy he was 24 weeks gestation, but according to when he was conceived he was still only in his 23rd week. He is truly our little miracle. We are in awe of God's grace, mercy and love.