Nothing too new

Drew is about the same. He has episodes where he'll drop his sats and there are indicators that the pulmonary hypertension is back, though not as severe as it was and not TOO worrisome at this point. Well, I guess it IS worrisome since they don't want to operate when there is an indication of the pulmonary hypertension. Again, that seems to be the conservative route and I'm just fine with that. (Surgery could cause enough stress on his body for the ductus in the heart to completely reopen and the blood to flow back to the umbilical cord rather than the lungs. That can really happen at any time but a large stressor can oftentimes "help" the process along. An explanation in a nutshell.)

His carbon dioxide levels are just all over the place, different with every blood gas. The last few times, they've been in the low 50s, which is ok. His ph is now in the normal range. Today is just going to be another day of rest.

His body is just having to work so hard and adjust to not having the ECMO machine do everything for him. He's breathing so hard it looks like he's just run a race. It's hard to see his little chest heaving.

The hematoma seems to have shrunk in size a little bit and it's still fairly soft. It's also still the size of a freaking baseball, at least. He's getting drainage from his chest tube. Hopefully that's a combination of the wetness on his lungs and some fluid from the hematoma.

Elizabeth was fascinated by the hematoma yesterday, she wanted to touch it and was calling it some interesting things. :D She loves seeing her baby brother and is so gentle with him. She likes to touch him and is really very good about leaving the tubes and whatnot alone. I'm so glad that she's allowed back there to see him; at other area hospitals, visitors have to be at least 10 years old.

They are just going to try and keep things quiet again today and see how Drew does.