I do declare, "A Lip Repair!"

Well, I pushed this post off until the very last minute didn't I?

On Dec. 6th., Hunter went to the hospital for his lip repair surgery! As the days were closing in on the repair my stomach just kept churning and I would just stare at him and soak him in!



A smile to remember



I was so scared about losing the smile I had come to know and love. I was very nervous that he would go in for surgery and when he came out I wouldn't feel the same about him as I did in that moment. Needless to say, the second the nurses brought him back to me safe all of that melted away and I was still as in love, if not more, with him as I had always been. I only lost my composure for a moment of two. The minute that the nurse picked him up to take him away my heart sank into my stomach and the second that she walked out the door with my son there was nothing I could do to hold the tears in. It seemed as though he had just left when the ENT came in and told us that his tubes were in and her job was done. Then it was only like an hour or so before the plastic surgeon came to tell us that he was done. The time that took the longest was waiting for Hunter to come back to me. I paced the room, in and out of the hallway, just waiting to see him. Then there he was, and oh boy did he look just miserable.



Back in my arms



 The next day we learned to feed him with a syringe. My sister had actually been there with him and was the first to try this new technique, and if I do say so myself she did fantastic. I was the last one to catch on to feeding him this way. He could only have pedialyte until we left the hospital later that afternoon.



pedialyte via syringe



We also had to clean his lip and nose a little bit at a time with some sterile water and a cotton swab. He had to wear arm restraints (which though torturous for him, were super cute!). [Just a hint for other mama's of cleft babies: arm restraints fall off pretty easily - to keep them on we had Hunter in long sleeved feety outfits and cuffed the end on the sleeve over the bottom of the arm restraint, warning: it doesn't take them long to figure out how to just take their arm out of the whole sleeve, but at least at this point it's stuck in their clothes and away from their face!] Hunter pulled through like a champ. Once we got him home, he no longer seemed so helpless and miserable, he did so great with everything.



The day after surgery and smiling already!

 This month has been filled with doctors appointments, which has almost become routine at this point. We had pre-op, immunizations, surgery, follow-ups with plastics and ENT. Our Holidays were wonderful. The kids had a great time.

A Video for Hunter



A Happy New Smile for Hunter and

A Happy New Year to You!