Monday Evening- Still Hopeful

It has turned out to be an alright day, but I haven't let out my breath yet. After another unsuccessful attempt to get Sydney off oxygen this morning, we tried again this afternoon. As I type, we're nearing 6 hours off o2- YAY! That's the longest she's lasted so far, so we're hopeful that she'll last a while longer this time. The rest of her life would be good.
I know it's confusing, all this talk about oxygen saturation levels. Rob and I have learned a LOT in the past 48 hours. Basically, they're monitoring the amount of oxygen in Sydney's blood as it circulates through her little body. Ideally, it would be 100% saturation all of the time, but the doctor's have set her goal at 93 or above. When she's hooked up to the o2, she tends to hang out between 96-100. When we've taken her off, she'll hang out in the high 90s for a while and slowly drop down to the high 80s. Any prolonged time below 90 is dangerous. It's ok for that number to dip, as long as it comes back up immediately. Sometimes it does, but not always- that's when they have to turn the o2 back on. About 2 or 3 hours after we turned it off this afternoon, she dipped down to the 80s several times in five minutes, but kept bouncing back up. It was the first time we'd seen her recover on her own. She's been holding steady in the mid-90s - 100 ever since, which is VERY good news. The night time tends to be harder, since it's natural for everyone's breathing to slow while they sleep. We're praying that she'll keep her numbers up tonight!
We're waiting for a pulmonary specialist to come see her tomorrow and hopefully offer some insight from that perspective as to why she's having trouble with this.
Another small victory- Sydney hasn't really nursed since Saturday. She had done really well the first few days, so it was a little discouraging for this new mommy. Fortunately I've been able to pump and we haven't had to give her formula, she's just had breast milk from a bottle. I think, at least I want to believe, that the cannula in her nose was the biggest obstacle. After we were able to get rid of that this afternoon and a visit from a lactation consultant, she's had two full feedings this afternoon/evening without a bottle! Sorry if that's too much information for some, but it was very exciting for us and feels like an important move towards her recovery.
Again, I can't tell you how thankful Rob and I are for every single one of you who have reached out to us or have prayed silently where you are. I'm sorry I'm not doing a very good job of responding to the messages and calls. Know that I'll do my best to start returning calls and emails soon, and it has been a boost every time we've heard from you!
Please keep praying for our sweet Sydney!!