Emma's New Look

Emma is sporting a new look today. She has an apparatus called a CPAP (Continuous positive airway pressure). When infants are disconnected from a mechanical ventilator, they often require a form of assisted breathing called nasal continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP). A nasal CPAP device consists of a large tube with tiny prongs that fit into the baby's nose, which is hooked to a machine that provides oxygenated air into the air passages and lungs. The pressure from the CPAP machine helps keep a preemie's lungs open so he or she can breathe. However, the machine does not provide breaths for the baby, so the baby breathes on his or her own. It conceals most of her face and looks a bit extreme, but it actually is much better for her than the tube down her throat. Since they have removed the big ET tube, she is able to take a pacifier. She has a little trouble keeping it in, but if I hold it on, she just sucks away.