Day 83: Delayed

It turns out that Aerin probably won't be extubated on Monday. There's nothing really wrong; the doctors want to give her some time to recover on it, as she seems to be very comfortable with the current ventilator settings. She's still improving gradually; a couple of days ago, her secretions became clearer; then they became less copious; now they are "thinner." Her puffiness is subsiding a bit as well. Anyway, the plan is still to extubate her sometime this week. Being on a ventilator at this stage is nowhere near the problem it can be at birth. Certainly for a 26-weeker, the ventilator can cause lung-scarring and brain bleeds, and the weaning process can be difficult. None of those things are issues this time around, fortunately.