October 1, 2008: Day 31 (One month old and no more CPAP, at least for now)

Today started with a bang. Dr Kaempf decided to remove the CPAP from Aidan, and give high-flow cannula a try. This is big news. First, it means that Aidan no longer wears that blasted CPAP hat, so you can actually see him:





Second, it is *way* easier to hold Aidan without the CPAP tubes coming off his head:





High-flow cannula is similar to CPAP in function, but does not have the same sealed pressure that CPAP has. From what we've seen, the disadvantage is that high-flow cannula requires more oxygen. Today, Aidan needed between 25 and 30% oxygen, as opposed to 23 - 28 on the CPAP.

We didn't get a chance to talk to Dr Kaempf directly, but he left us a message explaining his thoughts. He wants to give this a try since Aidan is now 4 weeks old, and is getting stronger. The cannula will help with Aidan's distended abdomen and stomach gas. He said he sees a 50/50 chance Aidan will respond well, and not need to go back on CPAP.

We had a mixed reaction to this. It's wonderful that Aidan is off CPAP, but from what we've heard, the preferred progression is to be weaned off CPAP directly to nothing.
Aidan went quickly from 6 liters / second, to 5,to 4, but then after 2 weeks, had to go back to 5. Since this, his respiratory has not dramatically improved. Maybe we'll get some more insight to this when we get to talk to Dr Kaempf again.

It was loads of fun being able to see Aidan better, and look how much easier it is for Aidan to move his head:



It's also easier for him to get at his Binky:



Note, the binky is not gigantic, it is much smaller than what you can buy in the store.

Without the CPAP, Aidan looks like a real baby:



We've noticed that Aidan has many different facial expressions. Some even look like he is smiling. probably not, but we can pretend...



Aidan's eyes continue to look better today. Hopefully, the infection is getting tackled by the eye drops.

In the evening, we attended an infant massage class. This was very interesting, and we are looking forward to being able to do this with Aidan. We have a private, bedside followup with the nurse next Wednesday. Also taking the class was a woman who also named her son Aidan. We first asked, how did you spell "Aidan" (thinking she probably spelled it "Aiden", but she replied A-I-D-A-N. Then we asked, what's his middle name. Can you believe it, she said "Matthew"! What a shocking coincidence! Her Aidan was born on September 16th. I later thought this is either an amazing coincidence, or she must have stayed in the same postpartum room (#370), and seen "Aidan Matthew" faintly on the marker board in the room where Denyse had written it 2 weeks earlier, and thought, "That's a cool name!"

Almost forgot. Aidan gained 14 grams today and is now 1414 (3 lbs 1.9 oz).