Off the Ventilator

Well, we're giving it another go off of the vent. I'm not nearly as nervous this time. God has been good to us, and we know that He will continue to answer our prayers. When we saw her this morning, she was doing well and breathing smoothly, blowing lots of bubbles! They will continue to give her oxygen until the secretions are no longer a problem and her lungs can do all of the work on their own. There is a possibility that she will need oxygen for some time, even after she goes home. It will take time for her lungs to completely heal.
The doctor increased her feedings today, and he took her off of the IV nutrition she has been on since a few days after birth. He will continue to increase feedings until she is up to the amount of milk she needs to keep gaining weight. Today, she is getting 20 cc every three hours. If breathing without the ventilator works out, we will be able to slowly introduce a bottle.
Her counts are back to normal, so the antibiotics have taken care of the new infection and will be discontinued in the next day or two. We will continue to pray that Blair improves over the next week!