August 13, 2010 - The Joy of Holding a Child

Today was a whirl-wind of a day. I had full intention of getting to the hospital first thing this morning, as I knew the doctors would be weaning Graeme off the ventilator. However, Big Sister, Mariana, awoke this morning with a rash all over her body. Ughhhhh....just what Mommy needed after the week we've had. Therefore instead of heading off the hospital, we headed off the the doctor's office for Big Sister. Thankfully, the doctor assured me that I cannot carry the rash, therefore, I cannot give the rash to Graeme!! Praise God for that!!

Graeme had a great night. The nurse weaned him down on his ventilator settings and they were thrilled with his progress. However, by lunchtime, they were forced to increase his settings again, because he fell into a deep sleep and was not keeping up with his independent respirations. Apparently this is very common for infants being weaned off sedation. He seemed extremely comfortable, so the doctor was able to decrease his sedation medicine. The hope is that the doctor will wake Graeme up a bit and this will allow him to breathe better on his own.

Another great step of progress today was that Mommy got to hold Graeme for the first time all week. There is nothing like the joy of holding your own child! While I held him, he was wide awake and very content. Since the doctors are allowing us to wake him up more we were also allowed to talk to him. I must say I was able to savor every moment of this quality time with Graeme. He is such a sweet boy!

Our hope is that tomorrow Graeme will be able to do a trial off the ventilator. We are hopeful that he will be more awake , as his sedation wears off and more apt to breathe on his own.

Please continue to pray for a rapid and full recovery for Graeme.