From Jude's mommy with pictures and videos!

Hi friends,
First of all I want to share the pictures and videos of me holding Jude that I promised you. Here are a few:

 The moment they placed him on my chest.

 Family picture! (Brian is wearing a mask because he was starting to feel a little off and he wanted to be extra careful around Jude)

 My sweet snuggly son.

 Our nurse, Caroline, gave us a mirror so that we could see Jude's sweet little face while we were snuggling.

 I truly wish that I could have held him forever!

After a month of waiting the Lord provided a way for me to hold my precious baby. :)

And a video for you to enjoy too! As soon as they placed Jude on my chest he started looking around trying to see me because he heard my voice.

I wanted to share with all of you just how truly amazing it was for us to know that so many of you were praying and asking the Lord to care for Jude and our family yesterday.

Because we knew that Jude's surgery would take quite awhile (they estimated around 3 hours) we walked down to the cafeteria to get a quick breakfast (because we'd missed the chance to eat from rushing to the hospital because his surgery had been moved from 1:30pm to 9am). When we returned from breakfast and walked into the surgery waiting room Jude's neonatologist and nurse, Joan, were standing at the door waiting on us. Their faces were white and their eyes were filled with tears. I truly thought that I was going to pass out because I was so afraid of what they might be about to tell me.Brian was not with me at this point because he had gone to the pharmacy to pick up some medication for a headache.

We walked over to a corner in the waiting room and they explained that when they opened Jude up for his CDH repair that they discovered something very troubling. And as Brian explained in the previous post his intestine was obstructing the surgeons view of Jude's diaphragm because of all the adhesions.  (Brian joined us shortly after they started explaining everything) Jude's doctor explained with tears in her eyes that fixing this problem was extremely risky and that Jude was at great risk for major bleeding which could take his life. We were floored and scared.

After the doctor and Joan left, we took a few minutes to process the news we'd just been given. We knew it would mean hours of surgery for Jude. Then Brian and my dad started the process of letting all of you know how you could pray for Jude and our family. And we felt your prayers with us. We received so many uplifting messages and found out that an emergency prayer service had been arranged for Jude at our church. We were COVERED in prayer. Thank you.

After more time passed and we received an update from Joan mid-surgery, Brian and I went to the chapel to pray together. Just as we walked out of the chapel Joan was coming around the corner to find us...but this time her eyes were lit up and she had a smile on her face. "They are finished!" she said. We were in shock. It had only taken a few hours for them to finish and Jude's surgery was successful in repairing his CDH.

The Lord is good. He has answered our prayers once again. We feel blessed and overwhelmed by the countless ways that the Lord gives each of us what we need when we call upon Him. He has spared Jude's life three times in ways that we could never have imagined. Blessed be the Lord.

Please continue to keep Jude in your prayers. He is in a great deal of pain right now and he still has a very long journey ahead of him. His life is still at risk and honestly I'm not quite sure when we will really know when he is out of danger. CDH is a terrible defect.

I've been spending the day with Jude alone today because Brian is sick again. This time he has a fever. So please lift him up in prayer for healing so that he can get by Jude's bedside again. Thank you sweet friends!