The Training Wheels Came Off

Dear Ellie,

Yesterday was a very eventful day!  You came off of oxygen AND went to full feeds by mouth, which means that your face is finally clear of junk for the first time since the day you were born.  As of now, you are just a regular baby with no support what so ever.  No humidity, no supplementary oxygen, no feeding directly to your stomach, no caffeine to prevent apnea, etc. etc.  In other words, the training wheels came off.

Consider, though, that the whole training wheels analogy goes both ways.  Riding a bike for the first time like a big kid generally results in some skinned up extremities or a date with a wall/tree/trashcan... and much of the time, the training wheels might also end up going right back on.  As for your performance?  You managed to stay on the street for awhile, but as of last night when we left, you were running over the feet of innocent pedestrians and I thought I heard a few shrieks from innocent neighborhood cats.  After a good 6 hours or so off of oxygen, you began losing altitude.  We popped the canula on and off your nose to give you a few breaks.  You began to slow down with your feedings too.  You used to suck a bottle dry in 10 minutes.  Now, after about 15 minutes, you've only eaten half.  We might have to back pedal a little bit, but either way, today's results were encouraging.      

Also, all of the results came back from your tests and nothing was abnormal, so its not entirely known why your heart rate is so fast, but at least it hasn't revealed anything terrible.  We'll just have to wait a bit longer, I suppose.  An X-ray on your lungs was also ordered and it appears that your lungs are in surprisingly good condition.  They are scarred of course, but if you do in fact have chronic lung disease like we originally anticipated, then it is miraculously mild.  In a few more hours, we'll pop you right back on to that bike.