Staying busy!

Happy Sunday night to all of you!

Jude continues to make great progress in all areas of his medical challenges. So, what has he been up to?

• The doctors have continued to wean Jude's morphine and atavan over the last several days and today Jude is officially off of morphine! Isn't that great news? Now he only gets a dose of atavan at night. We are thinking that the atavan will be gone this week! Hooray!
• Jude is doing great on his oxygen nasal cannula! They have continued to wean his settings and he is now on the lower end of the settings for this type of respiratory support (for those who know about nasal cannulas, he is at 24% O2 and 1.5 liters).
• Jude is no longer receiving milk continuously. Instead the docs are compressing his feeds...meaning that they are trying to get a full feedings worth of milk into his tummy to mimic what a real bottle/breast feed might be like. For example, today he was given a full feed over 1 hour and then his tummy rested for 2 hours. Next they will give him a full feed for 45 minutes and his tummy will rest for 2.25 hours...and the hope is that Jude will eventually take a full feed over a thirty minute period. Thus far Jude has handled this process very well and the doctors have continued to compress his feeds because they are pleased with his progress. If all goes well with compressing his feeds the hope is that we may be able to try some feeds by mouth soon. Please keep Jude's feeding and digestion in your prayers. This is his biggest hurdle left before being able to leave the hospital. We don't know how long this could take...but we are going to patient and wait for the Lord's plan.
• Jude is quite the social little guy and LOVES to be held and talked to. The nurses, PTs, OTs, and RTs spend quite a bit of time visiting with our little guy. He has quite a lot of fans and we are very thankful that so many MUSC angels want to love on our little guy. During our visits with Jude, Brian and I usually snuggle with him quite a bit and we work with Jude on the many activities that PT and OT have taught us. We feel very encouraged by Jude's level of interest in getting active and the progress he has made physically in the last several weeks. Please continue to pray for his development physically. I hope to give all of you a better update in the coming days about where he is in his physical abilities. 

Thank you for loving on our little man by praying for him! We are truly thankful for your faithful prayers. Thanks be to God!

Please continue to pray for a home for our dog, Saucy. We are so anxious to find him a happy home before March 23rd!