Happy Valentines Day!

Lucy took her first breaths without the ventilator at 6pm last night, when the medical team trialled her on CPAP. She lasted four hours which was great, but she had to work damn hard for that time to maintain suitable oxygenation. Consequently, she was reintubated and back on the ventilator by 10pm.

The latest plan is to give her a week to fatten up some more before trying CPAP again. In the meantime, she's got to keep breathing through her nasal endotracheal tube (aka, 'the trunk') rather than the preferred oral one because she's between tube sizes. If they use the bigger tube, it will irritate her trachea. So they have to go with the smaller one, which is problematic as it offers an inadequate seal for Lucy when put through the mouth. Hence Little Poppet's little button nose remains hidden from view again in this episode. And that's Robs's wedding ring which would fit around Lucy's wrist rather nicely.

It was nice to bump into Stella's mum on the way out. Stella, Lucy's first roomie when we arrived in the NICU, has just graduated to the slightly-less-intense Special Care Nursery 2, and is reportedly doing fantastically well.  Hearing these little capsules of positive news from people who are traveling a familiar path helps keep the journey firmly in perspective, yet also reminds us that there is indeed light at the end of the proverbial.