Today is the day. At about 1pm today Judah was taken back for his 3rd open heart surgery. Stay tuned for updates as we hear from the surgical and cardiac teams, but likely not much news for many hours. The surgery itself will take 4 hours or more, not including the pre-op and post-op steps, so it will likely be at least 6 hours+ before we get to see Judah again when he makes it to a recovery room. We feel all of your thoughts, prayers, and love, and it gives us strength.
J-N-J
Hello to the friends, family, and faithful followers of JudahK. It has been a while since our last update, and in this time Judah has made leaps and bounds, grown tremendously, and continues to amaze everyone. Life has not been without its ups and downs, and the time for major procedures has come back around, but first, an update from our last 2 years. Continue reading
As of last night we have arrived in Cincinnati. Now we prepare for the long awaited next steps and Judah’s 2nd attempt at a Laryngotracheal Reconstruction, this time with the amazing team at Children’s Hospital of Cincinnati, bright and early tomorrow morning. Continue reading
Winter has slowed us down a bit in the J-N-J household, most of us have been sick for pretty much the entire month of January, so we’ve just been taking it easy, resting at home as much as possible, practicing our vocalizations, and getting the sickness all out of the way for Spring. We finally received more information and a date for Judah’s LTP laryngotracheal reconstructive surgery in Cincinnati, and it is approaching quickly! Continue reading
After spending 5 nights in Cincinnati, an entire battery of intake and processing at a new hospital, and undergoing various scans, scopes, test, procedures, and meeting with an amazing new team of doctors, we have complete confidence in our new airway team, and a renewed hope for big changes in the Spring. Continue reading
July has been a fun and busy month for Judah! Spending his time at daycare with his friends, playing at home and going to the library and playgrounds with us, his first spray park experience, and just this last week a pretty major airway scope with his ENT surgeon, and his first Cleveland Russian party and overnight stay in a hotel with mommy and daddy!
Although sometimes it certainly felt like Winter was going to last forever, Spring is finally in full swing, and with it comes lots of playing outside, trips back to the parks and playgrounds, and going back to daycare. Spring also means it’s time to follow up with all of Judah’s doctors again. Continue reading
It seems like Spring has finally found us in Pittsburgh, though Winter is still putting up an occasional fight. The last few weeks have brought us some nicer weather and the winding down of flu season, allowing Judah to get outside of the house a lot more and have lots of fun. It also brought some big appointments with his airway doctors and cardiologists, and information on what is to come – a Spring and Summer of surgery and recovery, with lots of healing, and most importantly, progress. Continue reading
Thank you all for your incredible outpouring of support, thoughts and prayers today – they surely helped us get through this long and difficult day filled with uncertainty. Judah’s 2nd open heart surgery is now complete. Although it took longer than expected, and once the doctors got Judah opened up they found and fixed some other problems, but overall surgery went well and the team is happy with how it went. Now begins another long road to recovery, but we hope one of the last big steps to getting Judah healthy and ready to go home. Continue reading
The last week of nice and calm days came to an end this week. For almost 10 days in a row, Judah got to relax at the Children’s Home, play all day with mommy and in the evenings with daddy, and not have any doctors appointments, trips to the hospital or emergency room, or any major events. For so many days the three of us got to just be together and not have any worries. Continue reading
Last night Judah had a play date with all the nurses in the intensive care unit. He has quickly become the favorite of everyone here, and several nurses even fought over who got to change him. When was the last time you heard of someone fighting over a dirty diaper!? Continue reading
Judah spent his first night alone last night while mommy and daddy got a night at home to sleep. he did very well on his own and his nurse Carla said he was awake from 3-6am and got to play with all the nurses the whole time. they dressed him in outfits and paraded him around and they said he was very happy. Continue reading
The start of the Jewish New Year brings hope for people everywhere, hope for joy, hope for peace, and hope for sweetness. May you all be inscribed in the book of life. For Judah, and for all of us, we pray for strength.
Today was a day filled with love from Aunt Rema and Uncle Josh, from Gramma Luba and Grampa Mark, and from all of you who came here to check on us and who sent us your thoughts. Continue reading
Another quiet day in the CICU for us.
Today Judah had a visit from the pediatrician, who came by just to run some routine newborn tests since we got whisked away from Magee Hospital so quickly after he was born. After a few reflex and reaction tests, and the other routine tests she performed, she declared that Judah passed everything with flying colors. Continue reading
Baby J had his first Shabbat last night, he helped mommy and daddy and gramma and grampa light candles (they were LED candles of course), and they did their blessings over the wine and challah. After everybody left, it was a pretty quiet night in the CICU, and at one point around 1am, mommy got up to go to the bathroom, and when she got back to the room baby was not in his bed. The nurses had taken him back to the nurses station to have a little baby parade with him and dance with him and play with him. Little Judah was active all night, looking all around and making noises at mommy and the nurses. Everyone loves him! Continue reading
Today Judah had a very relaxing day. He and daddy had several feedings in the middle of the night, and daddy got to hold him and feed him from the bottle with the breastmilk mommy left for us. It was a slow night in the CICU, so every one of the night nurses fought to be the nurse that got to feed him. one feeding, at 6am, the nurse was supposed to wake daddy up, and after gently whispering “wake up” once, she decided to feed baby J herself and rocked him and sang to him and even tried to steal him. I think Judah already has his first girlfriend. Continue reading
Today was a new and exciting day for Judah. He got to spend the night with mommy, and even had time to play with her a little and she let him stay up late so she could see his beautiful eyes. Continue reading
Monday 9/10 at 11:11am I was born! Everyone was happy and I was glad to finally be here. I had a wonderful first day, with visits from all my Grandparents, and my Aunt Rachel who had been there the whole time. It was a great first night too, sleeping in my crib next to mommy and daddy. Continue reading