NICU Day 10 / March 18

Day 10 in the NICU was another big day of firsts! Jasper was still on the nasal canula on a low flow of air. Looking cute as ever, of course! Since he only had the canula and the central line in, we were allowed to put some actual clothes on him. Just like with Harper, it had to be loose-fitting and only a t-shirt since pants or a onesie would get in the way of his central line in his belly button. Button-up shirts are the ideal, so we brought all we had and took them home to wash when needed. I was so anxious to get him home, but seeing him in clothes was so encouraging and comforting. The biggest progress made on Day 10 was he was allowed to try to nurse. And he did great! It was not a perfect start, but only having Harper's start to compare him to (which was really, really tough), he was amazing. When considering he had only been fed via a tube down his throat, and eaten from a bottle a couple of times, he was doing amazing. I was thrilled and so encouraged. I used a similar tactic as I did with Harper, and didn't want to wear him out, so we would try to nurse for about 10 minutes before we would switch to the bottle. I wanted him to get all the nutrition he needed without getting too tired. Afterall, we didn't want him to take any steps backwards. That night we said our goodbyes, and Daddy did his famous burrito roll-up. This is a good picture of the gel packs they would place under his head. Because he was on the vent and practically stationary, the gel packs would help prevent pain on the back (or sides) of his head and help prevent it from getting flat. The covers are made by the volunteers and are just a mini cotton pillowcase. They would give us the covers to bring home and wash and get it smelling like us so that he could smell us while we weren't there. We ended up with about 4 of them, and around our house they're now known as "roars" since Harper started putting them on her hands and pretending they were monsters roaring as they tried to eat us. Facebook Post - 1:29 Jasper is nursing like a champ! I'm so proud of my boy. He's got no more icky wires in him, and is on a very low setting of air i nthe nasal canula to wean him off. Eating was the next big hurdle, but he was a natural. He's ever so much closer to coming home!