Kelson had another good night, and things were pretty calm when we arrived this morning. He has been spitting up some, but it has been pretty minor. We had a few errands to run, so we did those mid morning. Kristas college roommate Kate came by and took her out for lunch, and Ria stopped by for a quick peek. My parents also were there and brought me lunch.

We were settling in for a quiet afternoon, when we were told they wanted to change his ventilator. Since he has been at Carle, he has been on an oscillator vent, which gives very fast, short breaths, and keeps his lungs inflated. This causes his chest and stomach to continuously shake. We were expecting him to remain on this vent for at least a few more days, but the doctors decided he was ready to give it a try. He handled the transition nicely, and appears to be more comfortable. The new machine will allow him to be moved easier, and gives him a more normal breathing pattern. We also hope this will help ease the spitting up.

Ever since arriving in the NICU, we were told that it would be such a slow process, and we were told to expect two steps forward, and one step back. For the past week, it feels that Kelson is running a marathon, doing things days and weeks before the doctors and nurses ever expected. Nurses who have never even taken care of him stop by to check in and say how amazed they are with the progress. We keep bracing ourselves for a bad day, but I think Kelson is too determined to let that happen!