Some great news for Ethan!

I am very excited to share some really really good news with you all -- Our Ethan is off of CPAP and NIPPV, and is pretty much breathing room air almost entirely on his own! He has a little nose canula which delivers air at 1 Liter (I think per minute), but is usually set at 21 - 24% oxygen, and usually at 21 - 22%!! This is GREAT news for him. He continues to tolerate his feedings well, and today they increased him to 5 ml/3hours. He is also officially over his birthweight, after losing about 15% the first week. So he really is doing fantastic in pretty much every way we can hope right now. In my opinion (very professional, I know) he is no longer in "critical" condition.

Andrew is doing very well also. His infections still haven't progressed, which at this point is all that we are hoping for. He also still hasn't had anything grow from the cultures of his lumbar puncture, which is huge as meningitis would be the end of the road for him. He is slowly weaning off the ventilator, although he still depends on it for most of his breathing.

We've seen them both open their eyes, and the past two days as soon as I come to see Andrew and start whispering to him, he opens his eyes wide and looks right at me -- I know that he can't see anything yet, but it is still special!

And Emily wants to share a sweet experience with our Ethan, so you'll probably get two posts in one day!