All three of us hope every one of our readers and followers had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We received so many prayers and well wishes, and a great Thanksgiving gift of a happy, awake, and healthier looking by the day baby. Judah had a few great days in a row, which meant Mommy and Daddy got to have some very nice days too. He had a few visitors in town this weekend to wish him a happy thanksgiving, and every day since his Trach and G-Tube surgery on Tuesday has had him looking more comfortable, and being more awake and aware.
After the surgeries, the doctors had Judah on some pretty heavy sedation medications again to make sure he stays comfortable and give him time to recover and heal following the procedures. In the last few days though, Judah has been weaned off all of the heavy sedatives, and even most of the other IV medications he’s been getting too. When he is awake, he is very bright eyed, looks around the room and focuses on people and his mobile. The nurses in the CICU keep telling us how great he looks, and how well he is doing.
The standard procedure after a Tracheostomy, is to wait close to a week before changing the trach for the first time, but this morning, the doctors checked him out and decided he had healed up well enough to be able to replace it. By the time mommy and daddy got there today, he was cleaned and we were able to hold him for the first time in over 3 weeks. Mommy spent almost the entire football game cuddling with Judah, to protect his baby eyes from watching the Steelers lose to the Browns. It is wonderful to be able to see our son again, without all the tubes in his face. He has been progressing very well on the ventilator to his trach tube, and the doctors and therapists say he is transitioning away from the big machines and making his way to the smaller ventilators like the ones we will eventually be using when we get him home. He is breathing well, is back to getting a steadier volume of breastmilk, and is gaining weight again! When weighed this morning, he had finally passed 9lbs for the first time!
We will continue to stay in the CICU for a few more days, until Judah is ready to be moved to another step-down rehabilitation facility. This time, we will likely be going to the Children’s Home of Pittsburgh, instead of the Children’s Institute like last time, because then we were having feeding issues, and now we need to learn about Trach care, and the Home is more geared towards younger children and babies, and teaching families how to care for them. Once we are moved over to the Children’s Home, it will probably be another 2-4 weeks until he and we are all ready and have learned everything we need to know to care for him ourselves.
These last few days we got to spend a little time with friends and family, and give thanks for everything we have. We are thankful for all of you, and thankful for the beautiful, adorable, recovering baby boy of ours. Our best to all of you, and we hope you had a wonderful thanksgiving.
J-N-J
Nate and Jessica, what a great picture! Plus he is up to 9 lbs! It sounds like the surgeries were much needed. I hope each new day will find you all stronger and more ready to move forward. I will continue to pray for all of you.
Glad to hear things are moving forward. We are keeping you in our prayers.
Unfortunately they don’t work on the Steelers. jake
We are so happy to hear good news from you. All of our prayers were answersed and helped Judah recover. We can not wait for the day when you will come home and we will be able to visit and hug Judah and both of you.
Love
Marina and Myron