Good Times

Since Carter's been off the paralytic, we've been able to spend a lot of awake time with him. Yesterday, we got a couple of smiles (gas, again!) and even a few yawns. He also sucked on a paci for the first time! There's not much room in his tiny mouth for the breathing tube AND a paci, so Brad had to hold it in there for him, but he seemed to like it. We also found out that he LOVES to have his back rubbed, just like his Mommy. You'll see in the picture below that he looks drugged while Daddy rubs his back.

He had an echocardiogram (ultrasound of his heart) that showed the pressures are not increased on the right side. This is great news because increased right side heart pressure indicate pulmonary hypertension. So, they are removing the Nitric. They are not planning to put him on sildenafil (Viagra) at the moment, but if the pulmonary hypertension recurs/worsens, then Viagra it is. Keep the baby Viagra jokes to a minimum because I've heard them all from Brad already! :) He's also still being weaned from the morphine and versed, but don't tell Carter because he still hasn't noticed. His incision is healing nicely and each day his abdomen feels slightly less tight.

Carter just keeps continuing to amaze us and we continue to feel so blessed with his progress.