24 hours old...

At a day old, Cannon is still doing pretty good. He had a great night. They started the simulated amniotic fluid feedings around midnight and he is tolerating that pretty well. This morning his breathing became a little more labored. He was breathing faster and was requiring a little more oxygen than just room air. The doctor ordered a chest x-ray to see if his lungs have dried out since yesterday. They are still a little hazy but she did not think they were concerning enough to have to do the surfactant/intubation. They are going to continue to watch his respirations closely and do another chest x-ray to follow-up. The IV in his belly button also started to ooze a little so they have had to move him to his back - which he hates. They were hoping they could move him back to his belly this afternoon.
They will be doing the brain scan tomorrow to look for any brain bleeds. They do not expect to find anything since he has not shown any signs of problems in this area. They also will scan his heart to see if the PDA valve has closed on it's own. This valve is supposed to close automatically at birth but sometimes in preemies it doesn't. They can give him medicine that will usually close it.
Everything has been pretty familiar to us so far. I think that has made it a tiny bit easier. This morning he had a pacifier and looked so cute sucking away on it.
After the excitement of the c-section yesterday and the situation was evaluated, all the doctors were very happy with the decision to deliver. Dr. B. said that my placenta looked terrible. It was very thin and calcified. She said he had pretty much gotten all the nutrients out of it that he was going to. After evaluating Cannon, Dr. Merchant (the NICU doctor) also agreed that it was good timing. Even though he is looking great, his head is large and his body is pretty thin showing that he was doing what he was supposed to by feeding his brain and crucial organs, but he would not have been able to do that much longer before his condition would have started to deteriorate.
We took these pictures last night when he was still curled up on his belly. We also took a little video but I am having a hard time loading it because the internet is pretty unpredictable at the hospital. I will try to post in when I get home.