*there's a cpap

The ventilator is gone! Actually it's still in the room in case it's needed - see the black screen on the far left of the picture above. Today Will stepped down to a cpap machine. You can see it at the end of his bed. It looks like a white box on a pole with blue tubes.

The doctors think the spells he has when he doesn't breathe well now are related to his heart. They call them Tet spells rather than apnea since they are likely to be caused by the Tetralogy of Fallot. There are risks and benefits of both the vent and the cpap, but the cpap is just not as invasive and means he doesn't need as much help. They say the babies often don't like it but Will hasn't seemed uncomfortable so far. He does, however, look like a rhinoceros.

This is what the head gear looks like from the back.

At one point he was lying on his stomach and tried to turn so he was face down in the bed. Things like this have earned him the description of "feisty" from the nurses. You would never know it looking at him so peaceful in this picture:

The other positive news from today is that the supplements Will was getting through in IV have been discontinued. The bag of yellow liquid (hanging on the left - see photo below) is his last bag of TPN (Total Parenteral Nutrition). Now he will only get milk through a tube in his mouth. As of today this was increased to 23 cc's every 3 hours.

Chris is really vigilant at watching his monitor and he knows what the numbers should be and what all the lights and beeps mean.

A little weight gain!

Will's new name sign for his door:

Although he was just suspended in the air over his bed again, Chris wants to report that he got to hold Will today! We still save all the touching and interaction with him for certain times of the day. The rest of the time he sleeps. The nurse said that when he does well - not having a lot of difficulty breathing or struggling with the cpap - then she will get him out for us to hold soon.

~ Jody & Chris