Edythe's hand: Why This Blog

In January of 2014, Edythe was born perfectly healthy in every way. 
When I was little, if anyone had a baby my Grandma would always say, "As long as it has all it's fingers and toes..." as if that assured perfect health for a new little one. 
Actually, Edythe had all of her fingers and toes, but on her right hand her four beautiful fingers were fused together. We didn't notice it till she was a few hours old. Even the pediatrician overlooked it until we pointed it out. When we noticed, it was quite a surprise-- we'd never seen such a thing. But even as I worried that first day, about how to live without the fingers we all take for granted, I felt a sweet peace assuring me that there was a reason, and that this lucky little hand was part of Edythe's mission here on earth.

We did what research we could those first few weeks, reading about syndactyly on medical websites. We learned that often when toes are webbed they are left, but with fingers surgery is usually done to release them. 
I couldn't imagine Edythe going through life without fingers! Often I stopped in my everyday tasks, suddenly appreciating my fingers for the first time and realizing how much a mother needs fingers, and knowing my little daughter would need them too.
Medical sites told us all about syndactyly release surgery but we still didn't know a lot of details; who does such a surgery? and where? how old should she be? So many questions!
Eventually our pediatrician found out about Shriner's Hospital for Children. This kind of thing was exactly what they specialized in, and there happened to be in Salt Lake City, only about 3 hours away.