No More Drips

I have lots to update tonight. Mason no longer has IV drips for Morphine and Sedation! He is now on injections (into his iv) of Methadone and his Sedation meds every 6 hours. He was switched from Morphine to Methadone to help this transition period. It still does the same for pain, but is much easier to wean when it comes to withdrawals. Mason is currently showing mild signs of withdrawals which is expected since he has been on morphine and sedation meds since birth. The docs hope to have him weaned from both completely in mid-August.

Mason has continued to sprint on his vent. He is now sprinting for 4 hours at a time with good results. He will have another sprint tonight and 2 tomorrow. The docs (and us too!) are hoping to get him off of the vent sometime on Monday. He seems to be letting us know he is ready by grabbing and hitting his breathing tube. He has also started to move his head back and forth to try and free himself from the tube.

Feeding is going well now. Mason is up to 11 cc's per hour which is more than halfway to his goal of 18. He is now having his feeds increased by 1cc 3 times per day. At this new rate (if all goes well) he will be at his goal by Tuesday morning. When this happens they can take away his TPN which is his IV nutrition. They have been reducing it while they are increasing the milk and his color is starting to look more normal. The TPN is yellow in color and had given him the "Holden NICU tan". He is also starting to gain weight and is up to 7lbs.

Here are the latest pics....