And The Room-Air Trials Begin...

Mr. Colin's blood transfusion yesterday went well. With his hematocrit stabilizing, he did not need a second transfusion. He finished his antibiotics yesterday as well, which means likely sometime today or tomorrow Colin will be needle-free for the first time in his 6 weeks of life! Hard to believe he's 6 weeks old today.
Yesterday, mom got to Kangaroo in combination with a room air trial. It was pretty amazing for a couple reasons: 1. Colin was "desating" prior to the trial, and I was thinking this may not be such a good idea seeing as how he wasn't really stable and I thought he may be fatigued from the transfusion and his assessment just prior to Kangarooing. But the moment the bubble CPAP was removed and Colin was placed on mommy's chest, his oxygen saturation levels popped right up! He was breathing without assistance for a full hour and did extremely well. 2. Colin was extrememly active while on his mommy. Because he was NPO (no feedings) due to the transfusion, he was probaby hungry even though they were giving him IV fluids. Anyway, he was actively searching for a booby to suckle! He kept grunting and moving around, his mouth and eyes wide open. We placed a paci in his mouth and our little man went to town! It was so, so adorable. I took some pictures because it was the most active we've seen him to date. I'll post one or two of those in the next day or so, so be on the lookout. I'll warn you though: he is incredibly cute! :-)
When we checked on him early this morning, he was successfully doing another room-air trial. They'll be more aggressive with this now that he's off antibiotics and on max feedings, which have started again. The more he tolerates being off the CPAP, the quicker he'll be off that thing for good. That'll be a special, special day for all of us. We're looking forward to what we hope January will bring us: no CPAP, breast and bottle feeding, continued good results on his eye exams, no infections or transfusions, and 4 pounds - hey, a dad can dream, can't he?