Pictures coming SOON!

Here is a little something about Kaylee.

We were told that our daughter would have a cleft lip and a possible cleft palate at our first ultra sound.  At that time we were given a name, Laurie Vessey.  We were told this lady would be able to give us some information and help us understand the cleft a little more.  So we called Laurie and she can out to visit with us before we even were close to having Kaylee.  She showed us some pictures of other baby’s with a cleft and kind of just walked us through the process we will have with our new baby.  Laurie showed us a special nipple that we could try so that our baby would be able to eat the properly.  This nipple was called the Pigeon Nipple, it is actually from Japan. Laurie than said to let her know when our daughter arrived and to call if we have anymore questions arise.

Kaylee Grace was born April 14, 2007, she was 9 weeks premature and weighed only 4 lbs and was 17 inches long.   She has two loving parents Chris and Lindsey and she also has one proud big sister Cheyanna Rose, who was 5 when Kaylee was born.  She was so little and so very amazing.  Kaylee had a Right Complete Unilateral Cleft Lip and Bilateral Cleft Palate.  Kaylee had to be in the NICU for 6 weeks.  While she was in the NICU she had to learn to grow and eat on her own. Kaylee was unable to breastfeed do to her open palate so, I pumped to give Kaylee the nutrient she needed.  Once Kaylee was big enough she took right to her bottle; she did use the Pigeon Nipple, which worked off of the pressure of her gums and not off of the suction of her mouth.  Both Laurie and Dr. Elizabeth Peterson a surgeon came to meet with us and our new baby girl.

When Kaylee first can home it was nice to finally have our baby in our house they way it was suppose to be.  We all enjoyed to little baby sounds she would make.  It was nice to be able to see her around the clock, not every three hours like we did in the NICU.  Kaylee had a bit of a reflux problem so when she would spit up, it would also come out her nose do to her open palate.  This was hard to get use to at first. Besides that she was amazing!  Laurie came out once a week to check on us and make sure that Kaylee was gaining weight properly, that she was eating the proper amount and getting enough calorie intake.  Once I decided to stop pumping, Laurie made sure we had the correct formula that Kaylee would need to grow properly.

I can not say enough about Laurie Vessey!  She is am amazing person that has helped us tremendously.  Laurie prepared us for Kaylee’s first surgery, she sat down and explained the different options we had so start the process of Kaylee’s cleft repair.  We decided to go with the Latham Appliance.

Kaylee had her first Surgery with Dr. Elizabeth Peterson, when she hit 10lbs.  At this time Kaylee had the Latham Appliance inserted in her mouth.  This appliance was made to bring her palate together, also at this time they placed tubes in Kaylee’s ear, for she had fluid blocking her hearing.  Kaylee failed both of her hearing tests before they placed the tubes in her ears.  Kaylee looked absolutely horrible after her surgery!  It was really hard for us to see our little girl go through her first surgery.  That night they gave Kaylee morphine which she did not handle well at all! It made her heart rate drop and she was pretty unsteady for that following 8hrs. After the surgery Kaylee was not a happy camper.  She had to be put on a medication to help her clam down because she screamed around the clock.  We had to feed Kaylee with a syringe  and a piece of tubing for about 2 weeks because her mouth was so very sore.  Part of the Latham Appliance has a screw that needed to turn to tighten it once a day until her palate was pulled together.  Feeding Kaylee with the Latham Appliance was any harder than it was without; the hardest part was keeping the appliance clean!  We had to use one of those little brushes people use for their braces and hold Kaylee down so I could get all the food and spit-up out of the gap in her mouth.  The screw that is in the appliance seemed to hold on to food and it would wrap around that and sometimes it took quite a bit to clean her mouth thoroughly.

After the Appliance had finished pulling her palate together Kaylee had to under go her second surgery.  This surgery was her Lip Repair.  This Surgery repaired her cleft lip, built a floor in her nostril, and closed the gap in her gum line.  This surgery was the longest; she was in there for four hours.  This felt like forever!  When Kaylee got out she was a whole new baby!  It is hard for people to understand how much we missed her cleft!  When you have a baby that you look at, hold and bond with, you love them with their cleft!  The way that their little lips will move when they smile and laugh.  She was a new baby now!  Kaylee took a while to recover from this surgery!  Her nose got infected under the stint they put in to help shape her nostril, she also got a cold which made it hard for her to breath for Kaylee hadn't learned how to breath out of her mouth yet, so she had to learn fast! 

Then we had a bit of a break and we were able just to enjoy being with Kaylee with out any surgery for a while.  Kaylee is now 11 months and growing fast!  She has not had any growth problems!  Kaylee is now 25lbs and 30inches long.  She is one big girl!  There is allot of Dr. and medical appointments that are involved with the cleft but we just made it all work and enjoyed have our little girl!    Kaylee goes in for her palate repair on April 2nd, 2008.  We have been told that this surgery may be her hardest surgery!  But we are all prepared to get through it, as we have in the past. 

I feel that we have had a great support network with the Spokane Smiles and with Laurie Vessey.   Without these people I am not sure we would have been able to handle and work through our baby’s cleft as easily as we did!  There are a lot of ups and downs but with support the ups out weigh the downs easily!