2:45pm: The doctors have made some changes in Reid's care - which I think are definitely a move in the right direction:

* They have weaned his pressures from 15 to 13 liters.

* They want to keep his O2 levels above 40%. Since his eyes are no longer an issue, they want to make sure that they are making him work the least amount to breath. If his lungs can focus on getting rid of the CO2 and growing healthy new tissue, the O2 requirements will eventually go down. Long story short, he can come home on O2, but not on the high pressures that he is currently on.

* They have adjusted his touch times. Currently, it is every 4 hours and they are going to shift them so that he only gets hands-on time when he is awake.

* They are going to try and get him on a day and night schedule. During the day, they will have more lights on in the room. This also means that there will be no "swing time" at night.

* They are talking about giving him his chloral hydrate only at night and see if they can keep him more alert (less sleepy and sedated) during the day.

He also had Physical Therapy today and did well. Kristen is really being proactive about this and I applaud her for her dedication to get Reid up to speed. He has been laying down for such a long time that he is stiff and has troubles doing some of the things that he should already be able to do (ex. holding his head up a little more than he can on his own). If parenting is a full time job, being a NICU parent means working overtime. :)


8:00am: Just when I start to get so upset about Reid's CO2 levels yesterday and my mind starts to go off the deep end and worry about worst case scenarios, he goes ahead and proves everyone wrong -- CO2 of 55 this morning. This is essentially a "normal" gas level, maybe slightly higher. And, in addition to hovering between 30% and 35% O2 all day yesterday, he was able to maintain that level throughout the night. Amazing.

I am still in DC and hopeful that I am going to get home tonight. They have announced that Dulles is open, but have yet to announce that Reagan National is open --- which is the one that I am flying out of. Looking out my hotel window, the roads actually look good, so my fingers remain crossed. I have included some before and after photos: