Good News

Virginia was extubated again on Saturday and has been doing great on NIP! Below is a quick summary of the different types of respiratory support that Virginia has been on or will eventually be on:

endotrachial tube and ventilator: a tube placed directly into the airway that delivers direct breaths with specified pressures and oxygen concentration.

NIP: Prongs placed in the nostrils that provide intermittent breaths with specified pressures and oxygen concentration.

CPAP: same as the NIP but instead of providing breaths it provides continuous pressure.

Nasal Cannula: Prongs placed in the nostrils that provide continuous pressure at a lower rate than CPAP.

Everyone is very happy with how Virginia is doing off of the vent. Her settings are fairly low and she is on "room air," meaning the oxygen concentration is the same that you or I breath everyday (21% oxygen). She has had very little apnea and her breathing is nice and comfortable.

Now that she is extubated she has been sucking on a pacifier and let us hear her first cry. Even 7 weeks after most people hear their baby cry for the first time, it was still the most beautiful sound in the world.

our little burrito with her big pacifier