Don Carlos

Hyrum just keeps on getting better! Today when we got to the NICU in the morning the nurses told us that they were going to give him a different respirator. He had previously been on an oscillating ventilator, which helped keep his lungs inflated. The new ventilator simulates real breathing and is supposed to be a good transition to help wean Hyrum from needing the help of any kind of respirator in order to breathe. When we went back to the hospital this evening, the nurses told us that Hyrum is responding really well to the new ventilator. He is mostly breathing on his own. This is a huge step in his progress. One of the best parts for me is that they say once he's good and stable on the ventilator, we'll get to hold him! Here's a picture of him with his new ventilator.

It is a lot quieter than his other one was, and the nurses say he seems to love it. As far as everything else goes, they're still waiting on some lab results from the blood culture, the viral tests, and the spinal tap. They say so far everything else has come back negative. They doubled his feeding--he's now up to about 1 tsp of milk ever

y 3 hours. We are so thankful for his progress. We know the improvement he has seen the past few days are because of the many prayers of faith offered in his behalf. We can't thank you all enough!

Oh, and as for the title of this post, when I was in recovery in the hospital my mom bought me a big stuffed teddy bear. It's been great to have something to hold and cuddle while I can't have our little Hyrum with us. And, since he's Hyrum's "pseudo-brother," I named him "Don Carlos."