We showed the local doctor, she referred us to a doctor in Des Moines, at Blank Children's Hospital, a surgeon. The doctor says he's done plenty of these types of surgeries, without complications. Okay, good to know. Let's not be the first. If it was just the belly button hernia, he would not recommend surgery, but she has another hernia in her groin area. Again, not painful to her, and sometimes it goes almost completely away, but the doctor says it's her fallopian tubes and her ovaries that are in that bulge, and if they get stuck, it could be very bad for baby girl. Hence the surgery, next week. They wanted to do it this week. We knew hubby couldn't get off work for this week, especially with another guy on vacation.
They will go in and fix the one she has on her groin (her right side) and explore on the left side, because he says chances are if they have one, they have a matching one on the other side. Obviously while they have baby under anesthesia, they will also take care of the belly button thing. Therefore fixing hubby's 'issue' with it.
Because she wasn't full term (a full term baby is 40 weeks, or at least 38) - she was born at 36 weeks and 6 days (just one day shy of 37 weeks) - they call her a premie, because while physically to me, she's 2 months old, to them and to the anesthesiologist, she isn't 2 months old yet, physically. Weird, I know. She will have to spend the night. We have a check in of 7am next Thursday, which means leaving our house by 5am to account for travel time and traffic in the big city. While she may not be the youngest one the doctor is operating on, because she's only 2 months old (in my mind), she could be one of the first to go because the doctor operates on the kids from youngest to oldest. This could be a good thing, especially if you've ever heard her cry when she's hungry. This is due to the fact that the youngest kids can handle going without food the least. Plus it's hard for her to understand, "I'm sorry, baby girl, mommy can't feed you right now, the doctor says so."
Here she is hanging out with Aunt Suzi at The Machine Shed Restaurant.
Uncle Jim was kind enough to take a family photo- and yup, she's crying!
Hold still, boy! I'd like to take you picture!
We had some learning fun at the State Historical Museum (it's free!)
They had a cool exhibit on Movies in Iowa, called 'Hollywood in the Heartland' and
another one that focused on RAGBRAI. Fun learning times!
The hubby teaching my son how a rotary dial phone
works at West End Architectural Salvage in Des Moines.
Got to spend some time near the capital building, and took this cool shot.
Although we had some fun, and I got to check off some things off my 'to do' list, because I didn't grow up in Iowa - these things are new and exciting for me!
Prayers appreciated and coveted for the upcoming surgery, and for safe travels,
as our next trip to Des Moines will not be nearly as fun!
