Still Truckin' Along

Hi, folks -- it's Brian. Here's a quick update:

• From a respiratory standpoint, Jude continues to make good progress. At the time of this post, he's still on CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) with a low pressure setting and at an oxygen level of 21%. Room air consists of only 21% oxygen, so it's awesome that Jude is doing so well with so little oxygen support!
• Jude's feeds are steadily increasing in volume: His hourly consumption is now up to 7 milliliters of breast milk, which is given to him continuously through a feeding tube in his nose. Rose informed me that the attending neonatologist following Jude at the moment feels that he may soon be ready to switch to bolus feeds, i.e. getting larger quantities of milk periodically instead of receiving smaller quantities continuously. That's good news! Also, Jude has continued to have poopie diapers, which confirms that most of his food is moving through his bowel. Praise God!
• Although Jude has been successfully weaning on his pain medications, the process has been very slow, and yesterday he had his first signs of withdrawal, which was hard to witness. He cried hard for nearly two hours and was inconsolable until he was given boluses of Ativan and morphine. Although we pray that Jude will continue to wean as quickly as possible, we know that it will likely be a very slow and difficult process for him. Please pray with us that the Lord would comfort Jude as he goes through the weaning process.

Sorry for my uncharacteristic brevity, folks. Rose and I are going to try to regularly update the blog as we have up to this point, but some days it's a little more difficult to do so. Thank you all for visiting the blog to stay abreast of Jude's condition and to pray for him.