A note from Rose

Hi friends,
Just a quick message from me (Rose)! Brian will likely write a full update on Jude later tonight but I wanted to share a few things with you.

1. Thank you to ALL of you who have emailed us about potential storage space for my breast milk for Jude! I hope to contact each of you about working out how and when I could store my milk in your homes. Thank you for being so generous and giving so that Jude can benefit from my breast milk in the future. I've overfilled my space at the hospital (4 drawers worth) and I've also filled the freezer at the house where we are staying so I am VERY thankful for extra space to store my milk until Jude can begin feeds. He will likely be given the opportunity to try eating soon after his CDH repair surgery. I'm glad that I've been able to store up plenty of milk for our little guy. Thank you!

2. We also want to thank all of you for the many ways that you have shown your love and support for Jude and our family. We want to apologize for not being as available as we wish we could be to all of you. As you can imagine, our life looks much different than it looked a month ago. We spend most of our day at the hospital and when we return to the house we have plenty of things to do to prepare for the next day. Thank you for all you've done to support us and forgive us for not being able to thank you in person. Each day we reflect on the many ways that the Lord continues to bless us through the love you all give to Jude and our family and each day we are overwhelmed with gratitude.

3. One thing that we've not shared on the blog yet is that currently Brian and I are the only people visiting Jude in the NNICU. More than a week ago we decided to limit the visits from others so that Jude's exposure to viruses, etc. would be minimal. As you all know, Jude had a severe infection that could have taken his life and because of this horrible scare we've decided to postpone all visits from people other than Brian and I at least until after he has his CDH repair surgery. And we may wait quite awhile after that to allow visitors. It was a hard choice to make but we feel that it is the best choice right now to minimize the amount of germs that Jude will encounter. Please continue to pray for Jude to remain healthy and free from infection and illness.

I think that is all for now...look for another blog from Brian later tonight with a fuller update on Jude's progress today. I must say that it was a good day! In addition to the progress that Jude made medically we were able to spend a lot of time being parents to Jude. We took his temperature, changed his diapers, helped change his bedding and gave him a few tastes of breast milk. It was so nice to do things to help care for Jude. We could not help care for him nearly as much while he was on ECMO so we are thankful for the opportunity to interact and care for our little man.