Baby Lily has arrived!! T minus 29 days til SDR

Our beautiful baby girl was born on January 2nd. She is an amazing baby and has fit right into our crazy family. Brendan hasn't wanted to hold her yet but hopefully this week because I love catching his huge smile when holding his new sibling. Drew has been very gentle which is shocking because he is ALL toddler boy. He rubs her head and gives her gentle kisses. The girls love her to pieces. 5 kids sound crazy but so far we have settled right into a routine. Labor was super fast and I didn't have time for an epidural so au natural it was! My first (Brendan) and last born were both natural which was an empowering experience. She was born one hour after my water was broken which is how we started our induction so that was an insanely quick labor! Hard to believe I had to be induced this time when I had to fight to keep my babies in. I owe it all to progesterone injections which prevent preterm labor. I took them for over 20 weeks with Drew and Lily and they worked wonders. I still had contractions constantly but i did not go into full blown labor.

SDR surgery is really creeping up on us. I am starting to get nervous but am reminding myself that it won't be like his hip osteotomy surgery. He won't be casted from his belly to his toes and he won't be in excruciating pain for weeks. He will be out of bed in 3 days and for the first time in his life not feel spastiicity. The future is supposed to be brighter and not filled with pain. He will no longer need to take baclofen twice a day or need Botox injections 1-2x per year. Life will become easier just with a lot more gym time. He doesn't have a clue what is going to happen but he seems excited and ready. I won't explain until right before surgery so he won't have anxiety about it. He knows if he works hard he may be able to walk one day, although he still wants a power wheelchair ;). Since discussing this surgery with him he has been trying harder to do things on his own. All the sudden he is maturing and becoming more independent which gives me a lot of hope for the future. I think he is going to try hard and surprise us all with how far he progresses. At least I hope so!