Well, life in NICU is one where progress can be slow. That being said, Monday was a great day for you Jasper!

You decided to celebrate 10 days of life by busting out of your isolette!  When mama called the NICU at 3:30 AM on Monday, the nurse gave her the update that you were just too grown up for that silly isolette and had been moved to an open air crib! 

This shows us that you can regulate your breathing AND your body temperature all by yourself. Good job, bud!  Now mama gets to hold you more frequently and you get to practice learning how to eat.  We want to get that silly, irritating tube out of your nose as soon as possible.

Our next big task will be getting your PICC line out – that is what is giving you extra fat & nutrition while you’re learning how to breastfeed. The neonatologist has already stopped your lipids, but your IV fluid and TPN is still running, though in very small amounts.  Unlike mama and papa, you’re having a little trouble with a sensitive tummy.  The folks in the NICU have also added a “calorie booster” to mama’s breast milk which you don’t seem to care for. According to the neonatologists, you’re a “purist” and want no additives to your breast milk.  You must have been listening when Mama was talking to all of her patients about how important breastfeeding is!  But, because you’re working so hard getting bigger and stronger, you need the extra calories.  Papa keeps calling this your Weight Gainer 4000 diet. So your feeds take two steps forward, then one step back.

But this isn’t too surprising because a newborn’s GI system is one of the last to develop.

Currently, you are tipping the scale at 3lbs, 12.8oz (by the time you read this, hopefully the US has converted to metric, so that’s 1725 grams).

Even though papa is in Boston for work this week, mama is still snapping photos and you get to talk to him every day. You change so much and we want to document every little bit. Mama & Papa just won’t be able to share your new pics with others until the weekend.

We love you more and more every day. We just have to get some meat on your long skinny bones!  In the meantime, enjoy your new life outside the isolette and you keep growing.