Our Cleft Journey

For those who are new to reading my blog might not know that there is another section about our cleft journey as a family. My son Henry was born with a bi-lateral cleft lip/palate and I wrote about it here if you’d like to catch up. It has been awhile since I have updated our journey …

Today marks 1 year since Henry had his first surgery. He had his lip/nose/gumline repaired April 1, 2014. In the cleft community it is usually referred to as their “Smileversary.” It’s the day we said goodbye to his old smile, and fell in love with his second smile. When I found out at my 20 …

This week is one year since my first post about Henry’s journey so I thought maybe some of you would want an update on how he is doing. Since his palate repair in October he has been amazing! He eats great and now only wants to feed himself with a spoon. It’s sometimes messy but …

I don’t know what the word is for that huge lump of weight that has been sitting on your shoulders for a year finally sliding off is, but that is what I want to to type in the largest font possible right now. Last Monday was the day I had been looking forward to for …

  What an awesome summer we had with Little Henry! (Even though I think my biggest highlight was finally being done with his nose stents on August 20th) I know the nose stents are a necessary evil, but boy did I HATE them! Anyway, now we have a whole other hurdle to jump over. Palate …

3 weeks after Henry’s lip/nose/gum repair surgery he had nose stents placed. This is the most aggravating things we have had to deal with so far. The nose stents are put into place to shape and open up the inside of the nose and keep scar tissue from blocking the nasal passage. Some surgeons or …

Are you excited!? That was one of the first things people would ask me when I mentioned that Henry’s surgery was coming up. How do I answer…am I excited about no more NAM and taping everyday? Yes. Am I excited that my son will be put through a 7.5 hour surgery, have a “three” week …

When Henry was born he was taken to the Nursery for monitoring because his heart rate would speed up and then drop. We were told by our cleft team that many hospitals would always just take cleft babies into the NICU. The cleft team was very adamant that if the only reason the baby was …

At my routine 36 week appointment with my doctor she decided to break the news that I was 2cm dilated and 50% effaced. Henry was definitely not going to make to my due date of October 22nd. He would come anytime… Of course this was the “Oh shit this is real” moment for me! So …

As I sit here, our little Henry just fell back asleep in his swing after pulling out his NAM (nasal alveolar molding) and now I am getting new tape, rubber bands and glue together so when he wakes up I can put it back in. It’s also my birthday, and about 6 weeks before his first surgery …