Update 2/1/12 3:15pm

Hi,
Here is a quick update:

Basically Jude had a little bit of a rough night with quite a bit of fussing and de-saturations. He seemed to be doing a little better early this morning and was only requiring pressures of 7 and 24% oxygen. However, at some point later in the morning he really starting to struggle with his breathing and ended up on a pressure of 8 and 100% oxygen from his CPAP (the highest settings for Jude). This was quite a drastic and scary change! My mom was with Jude this morning (since I couldn't be because of my cold) and she said it was like a sudden switch with Jude's overall mood.

Because he was struggling so much, the doctors did several things:
1. They did an echo cardiogram to see if his pulmonary hypertension (PH) had showed up. The echo did not indicate any change in this...Jude continues to have little to no PH. (This is definitely a praise!)
2. They did an x-ray to see if he has any new lung collapse (he already had a very small amount). The x-ray indicated that there was a little bit more collapse, but not enough to account for Jude's need for 100% oxygen from his CPAP.
3. They switched out his "mask" for his CPAP from the nasal cannula to the long prongs. After doing this Jude seemed to get more comfortable and is now settling in at 80% oxygen. Pray that this change will continue to help him require less support.
4. They've taken samples of his blood to see if he has an infection. An infection could also cause some of Jude's respiratory problems. The cultures on these samples will be checked at 12 hours, 24 hours, 36 hours and 48 hours to see if they've grown anything. The docs have also already placed him on broad range antibiotics to go ahead and treat him in case he does in fact have an infection.
5. They are doing a respiratory panel to see if he may back a viral or bacterial illness too. We should know the results from this within 24 hours.  The doctors said that a cold for Jude can be super tough on him and could cause him to need this much support because of his smaller/sick lungs.

So, that is the update for now. As you can imagine, we are worried for our boy. He seemed SO happy and healthy yesterday. It is so hard to know that he is suffering a setback. Please pray that he will continue to feel better throughout the day/night. Please pray especially that he will not need to be re-intubated and placed on the ventilator again. If he keeps hanging out on the highest settings of his CPAP they may have to consider this.

I hope this will provide all of you with more specific ways to pray for Jude. I will update you as I learn more. We just want our little guy to feel better!