It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, then it was the best of times, and then ended up the worst of times again.

So we wake up Sat morning with great news from the nurse. Jordan decided that he'd had enough of the vent, so he pulled it out. He did pretty well last night, so they decided to just go ahead and put him back on the CPAP. It was a very good day.
When we arrive at the hospital, he is back on the vent. It turns out that his airways are a little swollen from being on the vent. The tube caused irritation which made his airways smaller and made it harder for him to breathe. The doctors can fix it, but they are talking about doses of medicine that take days, not hours. It's looking like he is going to be on the vent beyond the weekend, even though his lungs are halfway strong enough to come off. Also, we bought a book back in July on preemies. It list everything that can go wrong and all of the most common problems. The book is designed so that when the doctors say your baby his problem X, you can look up problem X as well as causes, long term outcomes, solutions and stuff like that. Today they mention in passing that the vent problems are going to be aggravated by his chronic lung disease, or CLD. No one has ever explicitly told us he had this problem, though the book mentioned it is likely for kids like Jordan. They have been treating a disease I didn't know he had. This is a really bad day.
Then we ask the doctor a question about what will happen when he comes home with CLD. Every time in the past when I ask a question about the future I either get told how little Jordan is or how young he is. Today, I got an actual answer! That means that even the doctors are starting to look past next week - at least when they talk to us. It isn't a big deal except that it has never happened before! Then we find out the results of the cardio from the test that put the kid on the vent in the first place. It turns out that the PDA is officially closed. Not mostly closed or 99% closed - it is totally closed. The doctor said that barring complications from an infection or medicine for an infection, it will stay closed. Then Jordan woke up. He didn't just open his eyes - something he rarely does. He actually woke up. He opened his eyes and looked at us. First mom, then me. He usually lasts semi awake just long enough to make us get the camera and then fall back asleep. Tonight he was totally alert for a full 30 minutes! I will post stills on the blog later this week. He didn't really do much in terms of interacting, but he saw us and we saw him. Looking at a sleeping baby is fun and all, but an awake baby is even better. Today was a great day!
Then the nurse turns him over as she has to do every few hours. He desatted pretty bad and his heart rate drops in half - a.k.a. "Brady". The nurse had to call over 2 other nurses to try and revive him. One of them has to manually pump oxygen into the tube leading into his lungs. It takes 3 NICU nurses over 5 minutes to stabilize him enough so that the vent can take over the breathing. Anyone who has ever needed 3 nurses to revive their 2 month old son can tell you that they are having a bad day.