I just can't hide it!

I'm so excited! Ayden is ON THE FLOOR! I just about cried when they told me he had a room in 6C. (I think I might have offended the PCCU nurses a little! Sorry!) Ever since he moved to the floor, his behavior has completely changed. His sats are better. He sleeps more soundly. He began sucking on his pacifier. AND Ayden is SMILING! He is so much happier, and I feel so immensely blessed. I can hardly believe that he was still intubated only five days ago. God is always good.

Some much more boring, though still important, details (and prayer requests) are as follows:

• Ayden's morning x-ray was the same as yesterday's. It is good that his lung shows no increased collapse or wetness; however, it has still not shown any recovery either. They are continuing Ayden's respiratory therapies and increased Lasix doses while on the floor. Some other things that will help his lung will be Ayden's activity level, as well as his ability to cough. He has demonstrated an excellent ability to kick, especially while angry, and he is willing to sit up. He is also coughing, but it makes him upset and start to gag; coughing hurts a great deal after having been intubated for so long.
  
• Ayden is currently at full continuous feeds. At 6:00PM, they are going to slowly begin bolus feeds. The fact that Ayden is sucking on his pacifer (and appears to have no vocal paralysis) bodes well for eating by mouth, but he will not be able to start that right away. Perhaps we can talk the weekend attending cardiologist (Dr. Kavanaugh! HA!) into allowing him to at least suck on formula on his pacifier.
  
• Ayden is still on the nasal cannula at .25 liters. He has done super well with weaning so far, so we are hopeful for continued progress with that.
  
• Though Ayden's cultures show no indication of further infection, Ayden must remain on contact isolation. This means that people other than Bryan and me must enter the room in a yellow gown and plastic gloves. Ayden has bad associations with the yellow attire, but he's not as scared of the people on 6C. I am hoping that the atmosphere here will make him less fearful.