3 days old!

Hudson is quite the little guy.....  The NICU team has done a great job of working and tweaking the machines to get the numbers Hudson should be having.  To be more specific on the numbers, I will try to explain and hope I don't get it too wrong, I am only a math teacher. :-)  Here are the most recent results from his 6 pm blood gasses (they draw blood from his heel for this, sometimes every 2 hours and sometimes farther apart, the better his numbers the farther apart the gasses)

PH level #: Ideally they want this to be in the 7.2 realm and Hudson today has produced a 7.23 at 6 pm! Winning!!

Carbon Dioxide output: In a perfect world the doctors want this to be at 40 but in premies it is good to be at 50.  Hudson's number.....50!! Winning!!!

Acidic level of his blood: In an ideal world this is at a 0.  Hudson has been as high as -10, today he performed at a -3!!!  Yesterday it was consistently around -6. 

All of this is a great sign that he is getting better!!!  The plan is still to have surgery on Monday because his numbers are solidly improving.  I understand that and after all, its all about the numbers and constantly adjusting what you do based on those numbers.  This is what I can call......DATA DRIVEN!!!!!  If you are a teacher you will appreciate that. :-) They are testing him often and going back to improve the weak areas instantly. 

He still has a partial collapsed right lung but over time it will re-inflate.  They can't do too much right now due to his size and everything else that is going on.

Another positive note...Kim and I got to do hands-on care.  This allowed us to take his temperature, change his diaper and move his oxygen monitor and blood pressure cuff from one foot to the other.  It was the first time we got to do this and loved it!!!