Thursday June 8th

Well, we had an eventful day yesterday. The doctors had been promising for a week to extubate Griffith (take him off of the ventilator) but, what with one thing and another, they still hadn't gotten around to it. They were going to do it this morning, but Griffith decided to take things in to his own hands (quite literally) and extubated himself yesterday afternoon. The rule being, of course, if you pull it out, then you have to breathe. They hooked him up on what is called C-Pap which is kind of a snorkle apparatus that pushes air into your nose -- it is midway between the ventilator and the nasal cannula. He's been on the C-Pap before and really doesn't like it all that much, but his buddy Cheryl was there and they hung out and held hands and worked on being calm. Dad and I went last night and switched off on hand-holding and sweet-talking during the night. Griffith was a little restless but really settled down a little after midnight and was an angel all night long. I don't know what he and Dad talked about but we covered a lot of topics. We agree that we are keeping the z3. Allan can ride in the trunk (if he has to come at all -- Griffith believes that he would be the perfect only child, but I'm not going for it.) Going to Florida next year with Bailey sounds like a good idea. Oh, yeah, and that having Mom and Dad pay attention to him constantly is all right. Anyway, I went in just before lunch time and Griffith was doing great. The level of oxygen that they are giving him is coming down and the pressure is, too. His chest x-ray was the best it had been in a month. The docs are going to take him pretty slowly because they don't want to rush him and cause him to fall back. With a little luck, he can wean off the C-Pap and on to the cannula next week.
In other news, Griffith weighed in at a cool 4 pounds last night. He really is a most clever boy.
Allan would have had a long way to go to keep up with Griffith yesterday. Dad gave him his very first bath yesterday which (unlike his brother) he seemed to like. We are noticing a definite pattern --- Allan is usually pretty happy and satisfied with whatever is going on while Griffith resents being messed with and considers other people to be something of a trial. (Can't imagine where they get their personalities.) Allan's weight has remained steady at 3 pounds 12 ounces, but we are looking for some gain today. It is time for us to have 2 four-pounders!
I've taken some new pictures, but what with one thing and another, haven't gotten them posted. I hope to get them up tomorrow.