April 29 Update 1

Information from the last 4 days is included in this update. A lot has happened. Carrick immediately went on a ventilator after he was born; it is in the form of a breathing tube down his throat. They've been trying to take him off it since he was born, but have not done so yet. He is breathing more and more on his own everyday. As of last night the ventilator is giving him no extra oxygen, and he is initiating all his own breaths. He was under the jaundice light the last couple of days, but he's off of it as of last evening. Now all our pictures won't have a blue tint anymore! He wasn't urinating enough soon after birth, but now he's filling up his diaper every time! One of his eyes is still fused shut, but the other is open and dark like mine (Will). He was put on blood pressure medicine--dopamine--after birth, but has now been off it for 2 days. But the doctor says it's normal for preemies his age to go off and on dopamine for awhile. He has a condition called PDA--Patent Ductus Arteriosus. It's a blood vessel that connects the main vessel leading to the lungs and the aorta. It should be closed but is still open. It isn't giving him any trouble currently. They did blood tests to see if he's ready for the medicine to close it, but his kidneys aren't ready for it yet. They can do surgery if they have to, but we're just going to wait right now because it isn't causing him any trouble. He's moving around more and more everyday. The most important thing they told was that Carrick will have bad days and good days. The big thing coming up is an ultrasound of his brain tomorrow. Hopefully, he won't have any bleeding. If he does it will create a lot of problems. More to come.