Thank you all for the incredible outpouring of support, thoughts, prayers, and messages. Judah currently remains on ECMO and life supporting machines, but he is stable, and we, as well as the doctors and nurses all agree that he looks a little better everyday.

Since the cardiac arrest on Thursday morning, Judah has had a number of scans, tests, monitoring, and adjustments. His heart rate has stabilized some, and his heart begins taking a little bit more function away from the machines every day. Though his heart and lungs are still very weak following the incident the other morning, each day gives him time to rest and strengthen. The doctors plan to begin testing his ability to come off of the ECMO machine over the next few days, and hopefully then another week or so for his lungs to strengthen and he can come off the breathing tube. This is a slow process, with many small and big steps to overcome, and they do not want to rush this process before he is strong enough.

We visited him many times over the weekend, and after leaving the hospital today he truly is looking better every day. On the surface not much has changed, and he remains sedated for much of the day, but when he does wake up, he continues to look around, reach his arms out and kick his legs. When we touch his toes or fingers, he reacts, wiggling his feet or gripping down on our hands. Throughout the day. as the narcotics begin to wear off, he will wake up, look at us or at the toys hanging above his head, and although he is still a bit foggy from the drugs, he appears to focus on and recognize our faces and voices, especially when mommy sings to him. Once he is awake for too long, you can see in his face and eyes that he is still uncomfortable and the doctors will give a bolus of medication to relax him. Although as parents we never want him to be uncomfortable, in a way this pattern and response is good, it means he is responding to sensation and stimulus. He continues to get chest x-rays, Echocardiograms, EKGs, EEGs, and brain ultrasounds several times a day, and so far all of the internal monitoring is looking promising.

We hope and pray for continued progress and good news, and know that in time our little Judah bear will be back in our arms, smiling and showing off those bright blue eyes to all that come near. Our love and thanks to all of you for your continued love and support.

J-N-J