Judah has had some great days since his Tracheostomy surgery just over a week ago. Every day he continues to progress, now that he can breath easier. Before the surgery, breathing was difficult for Judah, and he spent a lot of effort, and calories, on just that basic function. Now that he has gone a few days spending a lot less energy on just breathing, the food he takes in can be used to help him heal and grow. He is putting on weight again, this morning weighing in at just over 9lbs.

The days have been pretty calm and quiet for Judah, just resting and healing while trying to find the right combination of heart medicines to keep his heart rate in check, though now that he has come off of almost all the post-operation meds, and is weaning well off of all the sedatives, he can now just be his cute self. Although it has been relatively easy for him, for mommy and daddy this bring a steady stream of learning and classes. Mommy has been studying and learning with our Trach instructor Chuck on how to clean and care for the trach and Judah’s breathing needs, and daddy has been learning how to help her while she becomes a master of all things trach. Soon we will both have a firm grasp of just what it takes to care for a trach-baby.

As Judah continues to progress, we begin to prepare for the next step, which is to finally leave the CICU and head over to the Children’s Home. This will be the step-down rehabilitation facility where our trach training will continue, and we will be able to care for Judah more on our own, in preparation for bringing him home one day. We toured this facility earlier this week, and we think it is going to be a great place for us. The staff is friendly and knowledgeable, and the facility itself is very new, clean, and comfortable. We are expecting to be moved over there early next week. Though it will be hard to say goodbye to the loving and caring staff in the CICU, we would much rather see them at the grocery store than at their work. The CICU nurses are taking every opportunity to play with and talk to baby J now while they can, and so are we. He is awake and comfortable for most of the day, which allows us to hold him and talk to him.

Judah is back up to the volume of food he was before his surgery, and today we had another swallow test to see if he is again having difficulty swallowing and is aspirating like he was after his last experience on the breathing tube. The test came back with very good results, and the therapists want to very slowly begin trying to feed Judah by mouth. This is an impressive and exciting test result for Judah, and again gives us hope for a continued smooth and swift recovery.

Judah has been through more than most of us can imagine, and he is not even 3 months old yet. The brightness in his eyes, and the joy in his smile are truly an inspiration to us. Even when it gets to be overwhelming for mommy and daddy, Judah remains strong and pushes forward, which makes all of us push forward a little harder. All three of us continue to appreciate and thrive off of all of your love, support, and strength. As Judah shows us every day, we can all stay strong and keep on pushing.

Our love,
J-N-J