Spunky little Jude

Hi friends,

Rose here!

Just wanted to say a quick "hello!" and give you all an update on Jude.

He has been healing really well and wakes up more and more each day as they wean his sedation and pain medication. He is still pretty tired but has mostly happy awake time. He has been smiling and actively playing with his toys. It brings me such JOY to see him want to move and act like a normal little baby.

Jude's ventilator settings are minimal and we are hopeful that he will be able to continue to use those beautiful lungs that are now open and no longer covered by other organs!

Today the surgeons pulled Jude's chest tube out because it wasn't draining much anymore (Praise God!) and Dr. Hebra continues to be very positive about Jude's recovery thus far. We are SO thankful that the last few days have been free from dramatic changes in Jude's overall health.

So, here are a few pictures...I know you've been waiting for some:

 My sweet sleeping boy just two days after surgery.

 Jude's dressings over his incision site and his chest tube.

 Just another sweet picture of my sleeping baby boy.

Waking up to his daddy's voice...Jude LOVES his daddy! (And so do I!)

Here is what you can pray for:
1. A healthy recovery. Thus far Jude's recovery has gone pretty smoothly. We'd love for his to avoid any infections or illnesses...especially with several access lines in our little guy.
2. Healthy and hearty lungs! Before Jude's reherniation we knew that he was capable to breathing just on nasal cannulas. We'd love to see him eventually make positive respiratory progress. We'd especially like to see him come off the ventilator so that he can enjoy being a little more active again!
3. Jude's overall development...physically and mentally. He doesn't seem far behind where he should be developmentally...but we want him to have every opportunity to achieve what he is capable of doing!
4. Digestion: Today they started feeding Jude into his intestine at a very slow rate (2mls an hour) to try to wake up his system and get things moving. We know that before surgery everything was working really well. Please pray that his digestive system will resume to it's previous working state and that he will tolerate feeds very well!
5. Our family as we continue to travel this journey together. We are feeling a second wind right now but we still know that our journey ahead is long and full of changes.

Thank you again for being such prayer warriors for Jude and our family. There is not a day that passes that we don't talk about the many friends and strangers who are lifting our son up to the Lord in prayer!

Please forgive us for not having the ability to respond to each of your phone calls, messages, emails, facebook messages and texts. Please know that we read and listen to each and every one of them!

God bless you all!