Happy 6 week birthday, Clayton Cash!! Another big day tomorrow!

Today our baby boy is 6 weeks old, can you believe it?! I'm so proud of our little stinker & I just know he's gonna do big things one day--he already has!!

Tomorrow is another big big day for Clay!! He’s scheduled to go into the operating room tomorrow morning to have a tracheostomy.  Please say a prayer everything goes smoothly during this operation!! Because his run without the ventilator didn’t go so well last Monday, the doc thinks he’ll be on the vent for another 3-6 months.  Obviously, being intubated orally for that long is not what we want at all. Once Clay has a trach, we will be able to start working on feeding, it will be easier to get Clay’s breathing muscles into shape & it will be soooooo much easier to get him in & out of the bed! Of course, it is another surgery and we are quite anxious about it. The nurses have told us to expect about a week of recovery time.  

After this first week or so, I think Clay will be much happier with his trach.  Poor little guy gags and coughs with that tube down his throat and he’s so active & getting so much stronger, he has nearly extubated himself a couple of times.  Also, it will be so much easier for me & Eric to get to hold him. It takes the help of 2 or 3 people right now, so I’m excited for this! I’m also eager that Clay will be able to start working on regaining his sucking & swallowing reflexes.  Clay has been intubated since birth & has not had to use these reflexes, so we’re told it will take a long time until he picks it up—if he does at all. But I am hopeful that he’ll surprise us.  It would be so awesome to nurse my baby boy one day!  But that’s just another bridge to cross when the day comes. 

Right now, just pray tomorrow goes smoothly for all of us & I'll try to update soon!!