Many of you know there was a fundraiser for our family today in Warsaw. We just wanted to say thank you to all the vendors, volunteers and attendees for coming out to be a part of the event. We appreciate it so much!
We want to especially thank Tasha Northrup and Ashley Milliken for organizing the event and for all your hours of hard work. Thank you so much! You guys are amazing!
We’re home this weekend packing and getting ready for the move to our new place in the coming weeks. Judah is doing great and smiling a lot. Nothing in the world is better than when your child smiles at you!
Thanks for following our story and caring for our family. Please keep praying for Judah!
We had a great day! It’s so nice to be able to say that so often!
Today, we were able to take Judah out for dinner! We were very excited, but he didn’t seem too impressed. :) The whole thing was pretty uneventful (which is how we like things). There was a lot to take with us but thankfully the stroller we got before he was born was able to fit everything in it nicely.
Things are progressing well. As we stated in Saturday’s post, we are moving into a house in the first week of March so we aren’t planning on going home until after we move. Also, we are expecting to stay another 2-3 weeks (from now) for the nursing situation to get completely solidified.
Thanks for all your prayers, thoughts, comments and messages! It’s so great to know so many of you care about us and think of us as often as you do.
Please continue to pray for Judah! We are still believing God for a miracle in Judah’s heart and lungs. We would love it if you believed with us!
We’ve had a great week and Judah is continuing to do very well! One of the big focuses over the past week has been about housing. As I’ve mentioned in an earlier post, our current apartment is a great size for Liz and I and even Judah but not so accommodating for a nurse and all of Judah’s “gear”. In addition, after talking with the company that is providing all of his home care equipment, it seems our apartment building doesn’t meet the electrical needs that Judah’s vent requires. Basically, the building isn’t electrically grounded. On Tuesday, I sent an email out to everyone in our church, letting them know we were looking for a new place to live. By Wednesday evening someone let us know they were wanting to move and their place would become available by the end of this month! This morning Liz and I went to see the house and then met with the landlord. Everything went great and we spent the rest of the day packing! So, as if we needed something else to keep us busy, we will be moving before we bring Judah home.
We are so grateful and amazed at how quickly God provided a new house for us to bring Judah home to. It’s quite a bit larger so it will be able to comfortably accommodate us and a nurse and the equipment. It will take some work, but we feel like this is the right thing to do for our family. Since we came home to get those things taken care of today and we are attending church in Warsaw tomorrow, tonight will be the first time we’ve slept in our apartment since November 9th! It’s nice to be home but it’s hard to be away from Judah. Thankfully, we know the nurses are taking good care of Judah (who we hear is the “favorite” in the unit!). Liz will head back tomorrow and I will stay until Monday to tie up some loose ends and then go back to Rochester.
Thank you all for your prayers! God is truly amazing!
Judah is 3 months old today! Well, actually, it was 3 months yesterday. I starting writing this blog post then and the evening just got away from me. That happens pretty often around here. :) It’s been a crazy journey so far but we’re incredibly happy to have him in our lives! God has truly given us the grace to walk through this with joy in our hearts.
No real updates to report, just this video of Judah’s first “walk” around the floor. Enjoy!
Things have been going pretty well this week. I know I haven’t been posting updates anywhere near as much, and there are a few reasons for that. One of the biggest is that most days are good and there isn’t much to report. And, as I’ve said before, no news is good news. Another reason is that most days are pretty tiring (usually in a good way). We’ve been doing a lot of training and we’re taking care of all of his needs during the day. Most of the time this isn’t a big deal, but some days he’s cranky all day (like yesterday). This makes trach tie changes, g-tube cleaning and g-tube dressings extremely difficult and emotionally draining. So, sometimes I’m just too tired to put coherent thoughts together. :)
ANYWAY, Judah has been doing good! We’ve gone back to intermittent scheduled feedings and we’ve been increasing the volume! Whatever was making him upset last week seems to have passed. We’re very grateful for that! We’ve also been weaning some of his meds down and that’s been going pretty well, too. He finally got his standard newborn immunizations yesterday and has been gaining weight as well. He hasn’t really been interested in nursing, but all in all things are progressing well!
We’re making some progress on the at-home nursing front but not enough to post about. Once we get a little further into the process I’ll give you more details.
Please continue to pray that Judah will remain healthy and continue to grow and adjust well to the changes the doctors are making in things like feeding and meds. As always, we continue to believe for healing in Judah’s body. Our God can do all things and He can certainly heal Judah!
Thanks again for following our story and for praying for our family. It means so much to us!
It’s been an up and down week. On Sunday and Monday Judah was having some trouble keeping his food down. Instead of backing off on his feeds (which is what we probably would have done) they decided to switch him to bolus feeds. Meaning, instead of getting feeds continuously, he would be on a schedule much like regular babies, eating every 3 hours or so. He was doing great, up until this morning. He’s been throwing up (not “spitting up” as babies do) during every feed. We’re not really sure what the problem is but we’re hoping it’s nothing big. It’s very possible it’s not a big deal but for now we’ve cut the amount he’s getting way back and gone back to continuous feeds. He doesn’t have a fever, he just seems uncomfortable when he’s awake.
On another note, since he can now tolerate fats, (for details see this post) Liz has started attempting to nurse Judah. Earlier in the week he was not interested at all, but he has since come around a bit and we’re making progress. It’s still a long shot that it would work but his steps this week have been encouraging.
We are making some progress with at-home nurses. It’s still a long process but we’re beginning to get somewhere.
Please pray that Judah’s stomach issues resolve quickly and that it’s nothing serious. Also, please be praying that we would find the right nurses to work with us and Judah.
We are still steadfast in our faith and our prayer that God would touch Judah’s body in only the way He can. Please join your heart with ours as we believe for healing in Judah’s body.
