Greetings and hello to everyone.

Good news: Rebecca's lab results are still trending down and nearing normal. She checks out of the hospital tomorrow (Friday afternoon). Xavier is getting a steady supply of ever-larger quantities of mom's breast milk, he just hasn't figured out what to do with it yet.

Today was a special day. At Xavier's final handling interval, the nurse opened his pod and disconnected him from the monitors (though he still had his CPAP in place and his IV drips). For thirty minutes, mom got to hold her son, skin to skin against her chest! How cool is that?! The long-term skin to skin touch is important for the baby's development, plus skin to skin helps keep his body at the right temperature.

He was a little fussy at first, but he eventually relaxed (his heart monitors were still attached so you could watch him drop off to sleep and have the heart monitor data to know he wasn't faking it).

Xavier has two goals written on his new (little) whiteboard:

1. eat his 2 mm of mama's milk at every feeding (and keep it down). The milk is given to him through a drip feed via the tiny tube going to his stomach through his mouth.
2. sleep and grow

We have verbally given him a third one, and that is to keep his feeding/burping tube in place. The little guy is a Houdini at pulling it out. The nurse thinks it is because he has a really sensitive gag reflex, something unusual for a baby at his development stage (he gets this sensitivity, by the way, from his father). Verbal goal three supports written goals 1 and 2.

Xavier also had another minor "surgery" today. OK, not really a surgery, more of a procedure. The line to his umbilical artery was removed. It did not take long at all. That's two tubes removed in two days! His belly button can now take shape (there is not much umbilical left to fall off). It looks like it might be an innie.

The doctors have reduced the pressure on his CPAP machine. There is a little knob with graduated ticks 0 to 10. Xavier was dropped from 5 to 4! This means he is breathing on his own much better.

Xavier (and by extension apparently his parents also) has volunteered in a research project being run by Children's Hospital just across the campus. They are researching why some premie babies develop serious lung disorders while others do not. For this, Xavier has to give up a little blood at 2 7 and 21 days old, the total amount being 3/5 of a teaspoon. His parents have to spit into a cup (for genetic comparison tests), and we get to fill out some surveys. We did draw the line at the final test were they wanted to take a swipe of his lungs. Most of the data the researchers need they will get from many of Xavier's usual tests (we signed his HIPPA release today so the researchers can get the information they need). Already, he's a world-changer!

On a personal note, I, just today, purchased the paint for the nursery; I have been trying to do that since Monday! Finally, I can get on with my life.

Thank you all for your prayers and your support. It has knit around us all a sea of tranquility.

We got to see Xavier for the first time without anything on his head. This is rare at the moment because he needs his little hat to help keep him warm and regulate his temperature and he needs his CPAP a while longer until his body has fully learned to breathe on its own.