CHOP - Day 2

We made it through another long day of meetings at CHOP that left us feeling very good about moving forward with our decision for the prenatal surgery.  One of our greatest concerns about the surgery was not the surgery itself but was having to spend so much time away from our rugrats at home.  It is still not an ideal situation as we'll get to see them periodically over the next few months but CHOP has a child life specialist who works with families and has all sorts of ideas and resources to keep parents connected with their children.
Second, a major concern of ours has been the possibility of having our baby need shunts in it's brain once born.  Shunts are great, as they are a life saving mechanism, but have many risks involved.  The team of surgeons and specialists today did not rule those out, but were very positive about the statistics that show that children who have the prenatal surgery have a much higher rate of not needing shunts.  They were very realistic with us about what they could tell about the possibility of impairments our child will and could have but also painted a much more positive picture about what they have seen in their patients who make it to at least 34 weeks of the pregnancy.  We're still being realistic but have hope that the impairments, due to the surgery, are far less extreme than they would be without the surgery being done prenatal.
Dr. Adzick, the chief of surgery of all of CHOP, is the head surgeon for the procedure.  He and another doctor "invented" the whole idea and procedure for prenatal surgeries on babies so we feel like our baby and Shawna are in excellent hands (as if Thomas Edison was coming over to work on a light bulb for you).  He/they are the best in the world and for them to give us a vote of confidence in our choice as they've looked at all of our variables eases our fears and nerves.  Their whole team has been extremely accommodating, friendly, and caring.  They also have a little swagger about them that they know they're the best and are confident in their trade and abilities.  Overall, we feel great about who will be taking care of us. 
Shawna and I decided that we should take advantage of the situation and were able to get out and about this evening to see a few sites (I was hoping maybe the Phillies/Mets game) so we made it to the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, and The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (for the Revolutionary War) before enjoying an unbelievable flatbread meal on Market St. next to a Ben Franklin look-a-like (got to love the people watching in big cities). 
So far so good in Philly.  Isn't their a tv series "Always Sunny In Philadelphia"?  We're finding that to be more and more true everyday. 
Thanks for all of the emails, calls, texts, gifts, etc.  It's made the beginning of this journey much less burdensome and has helped us to remember we still have a blessing entering our family come mid-November or later (hopefully later!!).  Spending two days at a children's hospital has reminded us that we're pretty lucky as we've witnessed many situations that are far worse than ours.  We think all parents should sit in the lobby just for a few minutes and I think they'd have those same thoughts.
We've had an outpouring of support and many of you have asked about making a meal.  If that is something that you've inquired about, my mom, Sue, has said to just contact her (carlsons@hope.edu).  Thanks again. 

CHOOSING JOY IN PHILADELPHIA

-Jeff