Oxygen-free

Our Samuel is off of all oxygen. He went off of daytime oxygen a month ago and did fine, continued gaining weight and holding his own. Each night, we hooked him up, supporting that time during sleep when our respiration rate naturally slows.

A couple of nights ago, we did an overnight oximetry. Sam spent the night off oxygen and attached to the old familiar pulse ox monitor. If his saturation levels or respiration rate dipped below a certain level, the monitor would have alarmed for us to reconnect his oxygen. But it didn't. He slept soundly. Chris and I slept less soundly, interrupted by our need to stare at the numbers on the monitor.

The next day, we saw Samuel's respirologist and had this conversation:

Dr. Mitchell: Well, his oximetry was excellent. His mean saturation was 94%, just like you and I would do overnight.
Me: So you think we should take him off of night time oxygen?
Dr. Mitchell: Yes.
Me: So then the...
Dr. Mitchell: The company will come and take the oxygen equipment out of your home.
Me: And then what if he...
Dr. Mitchell: If he gets a respiratory infection, you call and we will help you manage it. He will get more oxygen then if he needs it.
Me: And then so we...
Dr. Mitchell: You will have another oximetry in a week just to see how he is, but we are considering him officially done on oxygen.
Me: You have had this conversation about 5 bazillion times over the course of your career, haven't you.
Dr. Mitchell: At least.

So that is it. I came home and took down the "No Smoking: Oxygen in Use" sign from the front door of our house, tore it in half and handed it to Chris. Just to be clear, even though our baby is no longer attached to a flame accelerator, there's still no smoking at our house. Indeed, smoke around my baby and I will kick your arse. But it was cool to do away with the "oxygen in use" part.

Done. No more tapes on his face. No more making him cry when I peel the tapes off. No more sneaky hooking up the nasal cannula when he's fallen asleep. No more fretting that the tubing will come untaped and wrap itself around his neck during the night. (I know. I'm a bit of a freak.) No more worrying that he's too close to the fireplace. No more oxygen converter whirring away in our house. No more tanks tucked under the dresser. No. More. Oxygen. Our 10 month old Sam is gonna be breathing the same ole 22% oxygen "room air" stuff that you and I breathe.

Blessed be.