Life goes on

We met with 'a' surgeon today (not necessarily the surgeon who will perform our baby's impending surgery) and had a fairly generic discussion.  Our baby will be operated on by one of the five pediatric surgeons at McMaster Hospital, and that surgeon will follow us afterwards.  A new piece of news, that I was not aware of, is that if our baby has difficulties feeding and suckling, as many health care professionals have continued to tell us that babies with Down syndrome often - but not always - do, that she will need a subsequent surgery to put a feeding tube directly into her stomach.  I am hoping it will not come to that, but only time will tell.
The surgeon told us it would be 2 - 3 weeks before the baby would be able to feed orally as there will be swelling and it can take some time for the bowels to begin working properly.  The surgery will take place in the first 48 to 72 hours after our baby is born, because they like to give newborns time to adjust, and they need to take x-rays, an echocardiogram (picture of her heart) and do a few other tests as well before the hour and a half to two hour surgery she will endure.  In terms of risk, the surgery needed to fix Duodenal Atresia (the blockage, possibly blockages in the bowels) is middle of the road - not routine, but common enough.  As I alluded to, we learned today there could be more than one blockage that needs to be repaired, but they will not know for sure until they "get in there".
I have a good friend whose newborn was born with a heart that races, and spent three months at Sick Kids Hospital in the Newborn Intensive Care Unit.  He is just a few months older than Ariel now, and still has frequent trips back to Sick Kids, but is a fantastic kid who is doing very well by any standards.  He needed a surgery very early on that ended up taking four hours, and her advice to me was that you will be a mess at that time, but then life goes on, and you more or less forget about those days and just move on.  You have to.  Her son also has an older sister, and my friend made sure that her daughter's life continued on normally - as much as possible.
I know we will all make it through this surgery, but I am definitely looking forward to when the days of surgery and hospital stays are far behind us.
In the meantime, life does go on!
Here is Ariel today after our family dog walk, playing with bubbles in the backyard: