Lily update

Copied this from Laura's blog......
Alright everyone, we got our date! It’s a lot sooner that I thought . . . June 4th! So we will be heading out there in about 2 weeks. Right now I am just trying to get my housing figured out, flights, and getting my house organized. I’m happy that we are going sooner than later, lets get this over with right!?! I’ve got a lot to figure out, but luckliy the boys have so many great people to watch them. Aunt Natalie will be coming to stay at our house for awhile, hooray! My family, and in-laws will get them the rest of the time. It looks like I will be there till mid July, which is nuts!
For those who are still wondering why she needs this surgery, let me explain. I know it’s a little confusing, and I’ll try to explain this the best I can. When she was born, her pelvic bone was about 4 centimeters apart, which caused the bladder to grow inside out and outside of her body. So, she got surgery to fix this when she was a day old. There were 2 things done in the surgery, an osteotomy to fix the pelvic bone and closure of the bladder and abdomen wall. She had casts to help keep the pelvic bone in place, but we ran into problems when she started moving and lifting her casts. Her bladder ended up opening and popping back out of the stiches. Of course this was frustrating because now there was an internal organ on the outside of her body, but I was assured that it would be fine and to just keep it clean. We also found out that the pelvic bone did not fuse together and is now apart again, basically just like when she was born.
So she has been living perfectly fine like this for 5 months, but obviously it need to get fixed. The reason I am going to Baltimore and to a different doctor is the simple reason that it did not work here and the doctors do not have enough experience. Dr. Gearhart in Baltimore does 8-10 of these a year, with great success. He has told me that the casts Lily had do not work!!! The recovery is the most important part, making sure she does not move for a long time so the bones heal properly. This is why will be there for 6 weeks, she will be in traction, which is weighted down on a bed and not able to move. She will have an epidural for the first 2 weeks, and lots of great pain meds the whole time. It will be sad to see her like that, but I am hoping that she’ll be in daze and it won’t bother her too much. She won’t be herself for 6 weeks which makes me very sad, but I’d rather her been on drugs and comfortable.
I found out that there is another mom and baby girl that live in Ladera and just got back from doing their 6 week recovery! I am planning on getting together with her and getting all the tips I need. I’m planning on bringing all sorts of things from home (pictures, books, video of dad and her bros so she will remember their voices). I’m trying to be optimistic!!!
So, that’s the story! Also I will be making a blog just for me and Lily to document everyday of our recovery out there. I’ll get it set up soon. Thanks all!!