I'm breathing room air!!!!!!

What a day - over the past 31 days I have questioned a number of times if we would get to this point. I can't begin to explain the feelings around seeing your child breathing without assistance and no tubes in her mouth. I never thought I would enjoy a baby crying until you can't hear it for 31 days and then there is a voice!

It is hard to truly grasp how much Kamryn has endured in her first month of life, but I reflected on that a lot today as I just watched her look so much more comfortable without the tubes. I saw another baby come back from surgery today and it reminded me of where we were 28 days ago and all the ups and downs we have faced since then. We couldn't be more proud of my little girl who has taught our family so much in her first 31 days of life.

It was actually weird walking in to see her today because I immediately looked at the laptop on top of the ventilator out of habit. That screen has become such a part of my daily routine and to see it completely blank was weird and a bit shocking. It took me a while to stop looking at it. I have bragged about our four primary nurses almost on a daily basis because they truly are unbelievable and today is no different. One of our primary nurses, Monica, took care of Kamryn last night and spent her time getting Kamryn ready for the big day. Her shift was supposed to be over at 7:00, but she couldn't leave until she saw Kamryn off the vent and made sure she was ok, so she stayed on until 11:00 this morning. Just amazing. The four nurses have been our advocates everyday and they treat Kamryn like she was their own. I walked in this afternoon to see two more notes from Kamryn that Monica put together. This has to be one of the best!


Hollie was able to go see Kamryn today in the NICU and she loved it as you can see in the pictures below. Hollie and Stef read poems to Kamryn and each time Hollie would read, Kamryn would get a huge smile on her face. It was pretty neat to watch.

So, Kamryn did fine all day with just room air. Her x-ray looked incredible with a large amount of left lung. To me, it looks like her left lung is almost as big as her right lung. I wish I had a timeline for when she will come home, but we don't. We need to make sure she can keep up her respiration and not tire out. We also need to wean her from the remaining meds and she will likely have withdrawals if they go too fast so that will take some time. Finally, we need to get her to eat on her own. Overcoming these three challenges could take days or weeks, but my gut tells me it won't be more than 2 more weeks.

So here is the superstar without her vent!

And her sister Brooke!


Have a great weekend everyone!
Shawn