Our Little Rangers

Ryan has tolerated his new ventilator much better than his last. They’ve been able to wean him down to room air overnight and have also been able to wean his other ventilator settings down today. The doctor told us today that Ryan has responded very well to this vent and that he can stay on it for up to weeks at a time. He said in Ryan’s case that if this is the vent that he best ventilates with then he can keep it as he grows bigger! (I feel like a broken record but growing is his goal now). It was a ‘load’ off my mind! They referred to this ventilator yesterday as a ‘rescue’ type ventilator and I was worried he wouldn’t be able to stay on it for very long.

Ryan seems to really love ‘touch.’ His nurse said that it is remarkable that he can recognize his family so well. We have to be careful when we walk into his room because when he can hear us his hand will open and close and the last few days he has been reaching his hand out for us! They did tell us that he has shown to be easily consolable. He has also shown this last week to really love his fleece blankets. I can already tell he is going to need many fleece blankets and will want to be held most of his life. Dean loves to give Ryan night night kisses. It is one of the sweetest things I’ve ever seen. We both kissed Ryan goodnight tonight and he seemed to enjoy that touch also. He relaxed and seemed to ease on to sleep and at that time we slipped out before our voices woke him and he returned to being demanding of attention/love.

If you look closely you can see the grip he has on my finger!

Smokey can be too funny at times. When we returned home from the hospital this evening Smokey was intent on smelling my hands. I thought he might have smelled supper then I realized that he smelled Ryan. I asked him if he smelled baby Ryan and I think that if the nubby had moved any faster that it might have flown off!

We brought one of Ryan’s eye cover/cloths home a few weeks ago and Smokey went wild over the smell then also. I sat the cloth on the arm of the couch and Smokey laid himelf over the cloth as if he was pertecting it!