Extubated! Ira’s been extubated! Or in laymen terminology Ira is now off the ventilator! They started talking “extubation” this past weekend but Laura and I didn’t get our hopes up. When I walked into the NICU this morning Ira’s neonatologist was at the bedside and told me they were going to extubate. I couldn’t believe it. They were, of course, waiting for Dr. Wung to do the procedure. Dr. Wung came in before the lunch hour and I asked him if he thought Ira was ready for extubation. Dr. Wung replied, “he can’t go to school with that thing in his nose.” And so they took him off the ventilator and put him on the CPAP. And so I heard Ira cry for the first time in his little life. And so I held Ira for the first time in my life for about an hour. And so it was a good day.
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The CPAP is a device that helps Ira breath but Ira is doing most of the work on his own. It is much less invasive than the ventilator as it doesn’t require tubing down the throat; hence, hearing Ira’s voice for the first time ever.

Ira was actually having a hard time when we left this evening trying to adjust to this new device. And the ventilator has not been moved just in case he needs to go back on it. Let’s hope he can make the transition.

We were hoping to be off the Flolan today and while Ira's heart is functioning well, the high pressure is back so the Flolan keeps flowing. Ugh. But hey, we'll take our (his) victories where we can get 'em. Ira Lester is making his great-grandfathers proud.