Day 31

We have lots of exciting things happening this morning! They stopped his feeds last night, and cut off some of his sedatives... All in preparation for extubation this morning. Without all of the sedatives going in, he was a lot more awake and alert. For about two hours early this morning, he kicked his legs, moved around and really focused on us. At one point, he was even smiling at us... I've been waiting to see that smile for exactly one month now, and it was totally worth the wait! They extubated him with no complications around 9:30am, and so far his numbers and O2 sats are looking great. (A few of his nurses who have fallen in love with him had to come in for the "extubation party"... One was even skipping a class so he could be here. It's really touching to see how much all of them have taken him into their hearts.) It is such a relief to see him without a tube down his throat, even though he still has a million other lines and tubes going into his little body. He should be so much more comfortable now, and I am praying hard that it lasts... The last two times we've tried to extubate him, he's lasted for about 9 hours before having to be re-intubated. I'm trying really hard to not get my hopes up too much, but I think it's okay to be cautiously optimistic? This is such a huge step forward for him... We're still in the same place as far as the heart transplant goes, and he is by no means "cured", but being able to breathe with just the nose canula support is a big deal... I'm one step closer to getting my baby back!! We're hoping and praying that the dreaded 9-hour point comes and goes without incident... Until then, we'll all be anxiously watching, waiting and praying!

I couldn't get any really good shots of him smiling, but these are close enough...

Notice something missing?? No breathing tube! He was worn out from all of the activity...