Today was a good day. While spending all night with mommy, little JudahBear had very few problem last night. His heart rate came down to a much better place and stabilized, and this morning the doctors were very hopeful that this would be a good day to remove the breathing tube.

Around noon, the doctors began extubating, the process of removing the tube, after they finally felt that the swelling in his esophagus and lungs had gone down some. After testing Judah’s breathing with the CPAP mask, they removed the tube and the process went very smoothly. He was a little cranky afterwards, probably from having such a sore throat, but soon his heart rate stabilized again, his breathing became much more regular, and he remained calm and awake.

All day today little J was awake and looking around, trying to get the attention of mommy and every nurse that walked by, and he succeeded. The nurses are excited to get to see little Judah doing so much better today, as are mommy and daddy.

Tonight Judah and Daddy get to camp out together, and after our little wonderbear spent all day playing with mommy, hopefully tonight he will rest and sleep with daddy all night.

Although today was a wonderful, and very needed step forward, there is still a lot yet to come. As our nurses keep reminding us, this is a marathon, not a sprint. Mommy and Daddy want their little boy to come home the right way, but with victories like today, it makes it easier to handle the road ahead and keep our strength and hopes up.