Julia remains stable and nothing has changed, which is great. Mostly updating to just share a picture (screenshot from a Face-time session, so it's not great quality). Reed and I are still not able to be around her, but the nurse and child life specialist Face-timed us so we could at least see her. She looks a lot better - her swelling has gone way down. They're still waiting for her GI tract to function fully, so they've upped her medicine a bit.
The plan is still to replace the breathing tube on Monday and then Reed and I will meet with everyone Tuesday to discuss the wake up plan. The child life specialist said the first few days will be very difficult. Julia will be scared and anxious, but she said children her age are very resilient and they generally get used to their fancy new brace surprisingly quick. I never even thought there would be a NEED for their profession... but I'm really glad it exists. They have age-appropriate dolls, toys, and teaching methods to help explain to Julia what's going on in a way she can comprehend. They are even going to work with her brother with his age-appropriate dolls to help take any shock off of seeing Julia. Hopefully he's too young to even notice... but if he gets uncomfortable, they're there for him too.
