The rare occasions when your new baby sleeps more than 7 hours straight during the night can feel like the dawning of a new era.

Jude slept from 9:30 PM to 6:30 AM this morning!!! Unbelievable.  She didn't fuss once during the night. I went to bed at 11:00 so I got 7 1/2 hours of sleep and then a shower this morning, I feel like a new person :)

It really is amazing how much our bodies need consistent sleep. It's sooooo good for you.  Now the quest continues to make it continue.

As Jude starts to get the hang of this sleep thing, we're in the midst of scheduling her first surgery.

We went back to Shriners hospital in St. Louis last week and she had more x-rays done on both arms.  The left arm, which didn't grow an elbow, an ulna or a full hand and fingers, basically is what it is.  There are no surgeries to be done right now.  Nothing in the immediate future.  Although I have high hopes that by the time Jude reaches adulthood, bone transplants using a patient's own stem cells will be commonplace and something can be done on her left arm.

Jude's right arm, which by appearances looks completely fine, won't bend or straighten.  It's locked at about a 115 degree angle. The x-rays confirm her radius is fused to the humerus on her right arm.  No elbow joint was created there.  There is space between the ulna and the humerus.

Doctor Charles Goldfarb at Shriners said he could perform a surgery to try to seperate the two bones.  He would separate the radius from the humerus using a small chisel and then put fascia in the middle of them hoping it will act as a connective tissue or fake cartilage.  Dr. Goldfarb was very honest with us.  He said he's done the surgery twice and it has failed both times.  Failed in the sense that the bones refused back together after they were separated on the other two patients.  The odds aren't good, but we have to take them.  It's essentially breaking a bone and then moving it dozens of times a day in physical therapy to keep the bones separate.  As you can imagine that's going to come with a lot of pain and if I think about it too much, I almost feel like passing out. 

The mere thought of my baby girl with her sweet smile, going through so much pain breaks my heart.  I know she won't remember it, but I'm still fearing it. They will give her pain medication and if we can be successful in keeping the bones separate, we're talking about giving her the ability to have an elbow.  It could mean the difference between Jude being able to feed herself and do everything else around her head and face for the rest of her life or not.  We have to try.

All the prayers everyone's been sending our way will help, I'm sure.  I am positive we can make this happen and I can feel myself gearing up to go into battle for my daughter's arm.  The surgery is not until the end of July, so we have time to think lots of good thoughts and go into this with the right attitude.  Anyone who's had surgery on their baby can probably lend me a little perspective on this ... I would definitely appreciate it!