Happy Three Month Birthday, Jude!

Hi friends!

Jude is three months old today! And he celebrated the day by taking a really big step...

Jude is no longer on Vapotherm because he is now on oxygen nasal cannula!!!

Woo Hoo!!! Basically, this means that Jude is on the last version of respiratory support before being completely off respiratory support! How awesome is that?!?!

I am one proud mommy!

Now on to the other details about Jude:

• Last week, Jude decided that he was ready (before the doctors were ready!) to have milk in his tummy instead of his intestine by yanking his TP tube into the "tummy feeding" position. The docs and nurses thought about repositioning it but instead decided to see how Jude would handle the change. And he was up to the challenge. Since Jude's tube repositioning he has continued to tolerate his feeds well and the docs have continued to increase the amount of milk that he is receiving! Can you believe it? Such great news. We are so thankful. Please join us in praying that Jude will continue to tolerate his feeds well and that he will not have any digestive problems ahead of him. 
• The doctors are also continuing to wean his morphine and atavan...to the point that he is now only receiving these medications every 12 hours! He is well on his way to being off both medications very soon! Please join us in praying that this process will continue to go well.
• Jude did really well with his paci skills today. We are hopeful that he will get the hang of this sucking thing and that he will strengthen his mouth muscles for future feeds. I have no idea how close we are to attempting feeding by mouth, but will you join us in starting to pray for this now? We'd love for Jude to be able to breast or bottle feed in the future instead of having to have a g-tube put in. Will you pray specifically that his oral aversion will improve drastically?
• Jude has been doing really well in PT and OT...he is gaining some head control and building up strength throughout his body. Awhile back, I asked one of his PTs where she estimated he was physically/developmentally and she said that she thought he was about a month behind his true age. Honestly, I was pleased with this answer because I expected him to struggle more based on the amount of time he spent laying still in a hospital bed with tubes and wires everywhere. Will you join us in praying for his physical development?
• We've not mentioned it on the blog...but Jude has struggled a little bit with focusing with one of his eyes. It tends to wander a bit and occasionally he has trouble focusing both eyes at the same time. So today the eye doc looked at Jude's eyes and determined that his eye trouble may resolve itself within his four month birthday or it may eventually require surgery later in his first year. Will you join us in praying for complete healing of his eye? (I will be able to give you more details about this condition after rounding with the doctors tomorrow morning)

That is the update for now. Thank you for your prayers and encouragement this week! Our little guy is one step closer to getting home and we are truly thankful for that.

I'll leave you with a photo of Jude without ANYTHING on his face! When the RT and nurse (Hi Meghan...another one of our favs!) were switching Jude from Vapotherm to nasal cannula we were able to snap a quick photo! Enjoy!

Check me out with my new nasal cannula!!!