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.

At temple this morning everyone said their prayers for us and Judah, and so did we. Judah is still doing very well overall, and just waiting for his surgery on Wednesday. thank you all again for your continued support.

Today they moved us down 2 doors into a bigger room, and we had another day of charming nurses, life has been so hard! Today Judah met two new nurses who instantly fell in love with him. They said they would be very happy to play with him all night long, and he is just fine with that.

Judah also saw his own reflection today, and was instantly mesmerized by the ridiculously cute baby he saw looking back at him.

He is starting to focus in on things and is already seeing the world in a new way. He had another day of fun with Rema and Josh, and this time Rema even got so close to a dirty diaper that she could almost see it.

We finally got a chance to sit with a doctor from the surgical team to discuss the plan for baby J’s surgery on Wednesday. They showed us detailed images of how JudahBear’s heart is formed, and what they will need to do to repair it. They will need to separate the two main arteries in his heart as they did not separate on their own when his heart was developing, and then they will need to close up a hole in his heart and point the newly created arteries into the correct chambers, so that the oxygenated and unoxygenated blood does not mix. The surgeons are very confident, and we are confident in them, however the next few days, the day before surgery and the days immediately after surgery will be the hardest on mommy and daddy. Babies and newborns do not have the same nerve connections and pain receptors that adults have, so he will not feel pain the way we would, but it is a major open heart surgery, and his heart is only the size of a walnut.

There is a lot of uncertainty to come in the next couple of days, but with your strength, thoughts, and prayers we know all three of us will make it just fine. Thank you all again for the continued support and for checking in to follow little Jude’s progress and updates. Goodnight, from all 3 of us.