Practice makes perfect

Lacey and I had a blast today making instruments with items from the recycle bin, playing with Little People, and washing seashells in the sink. Brian called early in the day saying he had talked to Lawson's nurse and they might remove his breathing tube today. He got home at 3pm and we headed for the hospital. Unfortunately, grandma isn't feeling well today, so she stayed home. Since there were only 2 of us, we couldn't go back to visit Lawson together, as one of us had to watch Lacey. Brian went back first. I told him I didn't want him to tell me if the tube was out; I wanted to see for myself. When it was my turn, I couldn't believe my eyes! I finally got to see his beautiful face with no nasty breathing tube tape stuck all over it! Talk about happy tears and uncontrollable crying! The mother of the baby across the room from Lawson had predicted it. She told Lawson's nurse, "She's going to lose it!" She was so right! He was under a little oxygen tent, but still NO TUBE!!! They had him positioned on his stomach. That was the first time I've seen his back! I was able to put my hand under the oxygen tent and rub his precious little back. Aaaaaah! :)

After that fabulous experience it was time for 'craft night'. We really had no idea what to expect, so we sat in the conference room chatting with one of the nurses while we waited for someone to come with the key to open the 'craft' cabinet. It turns out that each NICU family receives a Creative Memories scrapbook to work on every Tuesday night. They have tons of scrapbooking paper, stickers, letters and supplies to create pages. Lacey had a great time using stamps and stickers to decorate some pictures for Lawson.

Just as we were leaving, we were told that it is a very good possibility that he will need to have the breathing tube put back in because he was breathing pretty hard. The Nurse Practitioner said that it's normal for babies like Lawson to come off the ventilator, get some practice using their lungs, wear themselves out, and then go back on the ventilator. It definitely wasn't the news I wanted to hear, but whatever it takes to get him better!!! I'd much rather have him getting some practice using his lungs than not!