Two Tiny Buds!

First, the latest picture of Brigham hanging out with his newest beanie baby doggy. It's helping support his arm in a "down" position. He spends so much time with his arms bent tight at the elbows that the skin on the inside of his arms was starting to get sore. Now with the help of his doggy pal, he'll get his muscles stretched out a little! News update for today:

When they did the trial "extreme ECMO wean" early this morning, the blood gas showed much lower oxygenation (kind of expected), so his ECMO was bumped back up to where it had been. They're trying very hard to get him off this machine! So they're back to weaning very slowly. With the level he's at right now, they're hoping and anticipating him being able to come off sometime tomorrow.... Hopefully :)

As for getting rid of the silo, they're holding off until he's fully weaned from ECMO and stabilized for a few days on just a ventilator. There's no point in putting him through the stress of another surgery and adding abdominal pressure when he's trying to learn how to breath and oxygenate on his own.

The biggest news, however, is on his daily xray at 4am today, it showed even a tiny bit more improvement in the right side and two teeny tiny little lung buds on the left side that had started to inflate!!! YEAH! Remember, size isn't as important as function, but every bit more lung we can see inflating is something to be excited about!

There's an echo ordered for today, but it hasn't been done yet. Cross your fingers, throw salt over your shoulder, toss a penny into a wishing well, etc. and PRAY that the PPHN will continue to go down!!

We've had a lot of people ask us how we're doing and often hear comments on how strong we are being through all of this. It is not without Divine intervention! We have been extremely blessed to feel calm and peaceful most of the time. We're also soooo lucky to have each other to lean on.

We've chosen to have a "glass half full" attitude and I feel like our positive energy is paying off. Of course, Priesthood blessings and tons and tons of prayers are helping too ;) Thank you again to everyone who loves our little Brigham! We'll never be able to properly thank you all, but know that anytime you think of our family, we can feel it and we're grateful!