There's no easy way to say this other than today sucked. This morning they took out AJ's pigtail and right pleural drainage tubes. The only reason why they took out his right pleural was because a suture came loose and air was able to pass through it. The air could actually be heard from his chest. Thus, this morning he was the happiest baby ever because he did not have any tubes in! We snuggled, played, and just had a good time. His demeanor completely changed without them. I was loving it!

Due to the tubes being removed, they wanted to complete an x-ray to see if there was still an excessive amount of drainage since they initially did not plan on taking out the right pleural. The x-ray did not have any good news. There still is drainage on the right side. That means they will place another drainage tube on his right side tomorrow.

Also, the x-ray showed that his left lung is beginning to collapse where the tubes were removed. That means that he is back on a full liter of oxygen. They are trying to "blow" up his other lung back to normal. The plan is that they will watch him closely tonight. If they see that he is having trouble breathing or stops breathing-they are ready to perform an emergency procedure. This is just one of those "bad" side-effects of the drainage tubes. It pretty much freaks me out.  

More negative news: he is still vomiting chunks of formula. The new idea is that he may be withdrawing from Ativan. So they started him on some Valium. They do not want to change his formula just yet. They will reevaluate it sometime tomorrow. The dietician recommends changing from bolus feedings to continuous. I'm not sure how I feel about that but if it will stop him from vomiting-I'm all for it!

It's been a long and draining day. I feel like an emotional wreck. I don't know how or what to think. I guess we will just see what tomorrow brings.