Hernia update

Kylie's appointment with the pediatric surgeon, Dr. Kling, was today at Rady Children's in San Diego.  The doctor confirmed that she does, in fact, have an inguinal hernia on the right side. Apparently they are pretty common in babies, especially premature babies. Unlike umbilical hernias, inguinal hernias will not get better without surgery. Dr. Kling likes to put off surgery until 55-60 weeks post-conception (usually when the baby is about 15-20 weeks of age but because Kylie was 6 weeks early, it will be around 21-26 weeks of age). I should get a call in the next week or so to schedule the surgery. Also common in premature babies and in girls is having an inguinal hernia on the left side if one is present on the right side so when Dr. Kling goes in to repair the hernia on the right side, she will do an explatory on the left side to see if there is an opening and repair it if there is. The surgery is very minor and only lasts 45 minutes to an hour and a half so Kylie should be able to go home just a couple of hours after the surgery is over. Dr. Kling will put some numbing medication in the incision area that lasts a few hours, and Kylie will only need Tylenol or Motrin for a day or so. I'm super nervous but I'm keeping positive! I'm glad she will be a little older when the surgery is actually performed but the wait just puts her at risk for whatever is coming through the opening (it could be her intestines, it could be an ovary, etc.) to get stuck and in that case, I would either take her back to Dr. Kling to see if she could push it back in the opening and if not, Kylie would have emergency surgery. So please pray this doesn't happen and everything goes smoothly until surgery in a few months!