The main risk for the traditional surgery is blood loss. The hospital staff informed us that we would be able to directly donate our blood just in case Mia Kai needed a blood transfusion. Countless people offered to donate directly but they set a maximum limit of four donors, preferably blood relatives. The directed blood donations are performed via American Red Cross. According to the information they gave us from the American Red Cross: "Parents are given the option to do directed donations for blood for their child's craniofacial surgery. It is highly recommended that mom and/or dad should be the only donors for children under 1 year of age." All donors are required to know their blood types before donating. Be sure to know your baby's blood type as well, so that you can make sure everyone has a match that will be donating. Everyone in our family wanted to donate but several family members had things that prevented them from being able to do so (previous illnesses, anemia, pregnancy, etc.). Two weeks prior to surgery, JD donated plasma then Chase (my brother), Sonya (my aunt) and myself donated blood. Somehow they are able to separate the plasma from the blood they would be transfusing. We are so grateful for the ones who offered to donate blood and to those who were able to!