It's the day before surgery! Mom is in town so we decided to go get professional pictures done...crazy but worth it! It was a fun morning...Katie got to build a bear and we shopped at gymboree..(bad!)

I am just trying to stay busy so I don't think about tomorrow. There will be plenty of time to worry during surgery tomorrow. Not too much else...

Thanks for checking in! Karen

1 week to go!

Andy joined our family May 16th. We were blessed with a healthy baby boy! We found out he had cleft lip and palate on an ultrasound 3 weeks prior, so we were "somewhat prepared". Although we were quite worried about him eating, he took to the Habermann bottle well and hasn't looked back!

We started going to the plastic surgeon before he was a week old. The doctor recommended that we tape his lip to help it stretch into place and recommended that we use an obturator. The obturator is a retainer like piece of plastic that helps his palate and gum grow together naturally. We keep it in place with denture adhesive!

The changes we have seen with the conservative managment have been dramatic..just look at the pictures! It has been a fun and challenging 3 months and is scheduled for his lip and nose surgery next friday, September 1st. We are both nervous and excited! Here are some of his pictures...
1. Andy 1 day old
2. Our family
3. Andy 3 weeks old
4. Andy 7 weeks old
5. Andy 12 weeks old without mouthpiece or taping!
We appreciate all the prayers and good thoughts we can get...it feels so terrible to make this happy guy go through all this!
Thanks for checking in!
Karen, Jeff, Katie & Andy