Upcoming surgery scheduled

Kate's surgery has finally been scheduled for January 28th. As I type that, I get both scared and excited all at the same time. In less than three weeks, my baby will be put to sleep, her palate will be repaired, and her appearance will be altered (although only slightly). I am having trouble even verbalizing my feelings on this, so forgive me if I sound incoherent.

On the one hand, this surgery (along with her speech therapy) will hopefully repair her palate to such a degree that she will be able to make MAJOR progress in her speech. She will get ear tubes, so hopefully we will spend MUCH less time in doctors' offices and at pharmacies and taking antibiotics before bedtime. Which is all good stuff. It is what we have been hoping for.

On the other hand, it is surgery! On a two year old, whom I adore. So it makes me frightened for her. I also know that she is going to be miserable for quite some time. Yes, she will have some pain, although we hope that can be controlled and minimized. But she also will have her diet completely altered for awhile. She will spend 10 days on a liquid only diet, and then move to a soft diet before being allowed to return to normal food. Bless her heart, she loves to eat! I am not at all sure how we are going to deal with this, especially considering the fact that I have two small boys who also love to eat. I mean, seriously, Ben and Will aren't going on a liquid diet, which means I am likely to have an angry little girl on my hands. And boy can she give the dirty looks. I have a feeling that Ben and Will are going to get lots of fast food with their Daddy in the coming month. So at least the three of them will be happy:)

But there is also the issue of her lip. Originally the doctor had planned on leaving it alone until she is older. At her last visit he looked at it and decided that he would do a minor revision on the bottom of her top lip, where there is just a bit of extra skin. It isn't really noticeable, but it is probably the most noticeable part other than the tooth in front. I know that it will only be a minor repair, but I think that she is so beautiful. My boys are fond of calling her "the most beautiful little girl I have ever seen!" Will often adds, "She is so pwetty, I want to mawwy huh!" (I used to be the girl he wanted to mawwy. Go figure.) So I hate the idea of changing her appearance at all, even if it is to make her lip more "normal", whatever that is. I actually have a weird little extra skin thingy on my upper lip. I was pretty self-conscious of it as a kid, but I barely think of it now. But I am trying to think long term on this one, and I agree with the doctor in my head, even if my heart is torn.

In other words, I have a lot of conflicting emotions, which is pretty normal for me:) There is good and bad to be had wherever I look.

As for the prayer requests, we ask God to work through the doctors (who we think are great), provide us with other doctors, nurses, and technical staff who will be a blessing to Kate and excel at their jobs. We pray that she stays healthy until the surgery (the doc says that if she has a hint of a sniffle, the surgery will be postponed). We pray that she will be healthy and heal properly after the surgery. We ask God to give all of us patience as we deal with Kate's diet in the coming months. Especially Kate. She will need some grace to get through this.