Everyone here has provided good advice -- I ditto all of it. If you read through many of the posts on the forum, you'll learn quickly that everyone is different regarding the amount of pain and associated problems post surgery and I can say from personal experience that after three spinal surgeries in a year, my experience was different after each of them. That said, everything the others have said is worth following regardless of your personal situation.

I'm 3 weeks today post laminectomies with fusion and instrumentation at L2-S1. This following the same at the T-3/4 and T-9/10 levels in Sept and ACDF of C4-7 last Nov. The percocept and soma I'm currently on are doing a good job with managing the pain this time and I've been able to be fairly active since the surgery and esp the last week or so. The problem is, I probably feel better than I actually am since I've started developing pain in my upper thigh and hip that I didn't have before. Not sure if it's because I've been doing too much or something else, but everyone always warns about this. So the moral is, even if you feel ok, don't be tempted to do too much. Esp with a young daughter that won't understand why you can't pick her up or bend over to hug her, etc. If you do have the birthday party, do as spiney and leesa said and be a guest only. It's really hard to have to depend on others to do things for you, but prepare yourself and them for that now. I can't tell you how many times I've had to ask someone to pick up something I've dropped or needed help with getting dressed, etc.

You may want to get a shower chair, a long brush to wash with and a hand-held shower head if you don't already have them. Also think through your clothing and what's easy to put on and won't irritate the incision as it heals. You may be given a brace to wear when you are out of bed. I had to change some of what I normally wear to be comfortable with mine.

Just some thoughts to consider. Good luck with everything! Hope it all goes well!