We finally have a date for this doll baby to have her second lip surgery.

Wednesday, February 15th Dr. Smith and his team will work their magic on Hudsyn's lip/nose again to (most likely) complete the cleft lip repair.

At the follow-up appointment from the first procedure, Dr. Smith compared a cleft lip to an empty room. If he asked me to paint all four walls of the room the same color, it would be no big deal... you would paint the edges and then roll the paint on the walls. But, if he asked you to paint all of the walls of a room with two additional walls in it, it would require additional paint and supplies. A cleft lip is like "extra walls." When we think of a cleft lip we tend to think there isn't enough skin or tissue... thus the "hole" - however, there is actually extra.

During her first surgery, Dr. Smith removed and discarded some tissue to begin smoothing out the top lip. He will open the same incisions and remove additional skin and/or tissue to finish that process. She will also have nasal stents for approximately 7-10 days again to help shape her sweet little nose.

When he placed the stitches during the first surgery he used fairly "tough" material to make sure it would hold while her skin healed and stretched. This time he will use quick dissolving stitches which will help her lip to heal with little scarring.

We are eager to have this second surgery out of the way so we can have a break before the palate repair when she is 1-ish. We were told to expect basically the same thing as the first surgery. The procedure and recovery will both be very similar. Although we of course wish she didn't have to be put under anesthesia and endure the stress and pain of another surgery, we know God still has a plan and is making this little lady one tough cookie!!

Her adorable smile and bright eyes have the ability to turn bad days to good ones and those smiles are contagious :).