As we expected from our ultrasound, Sierra was born with a bilateral cleft lip and palate.  When the ultrasound technician told us our baby had a cleft lip and palate, we were in shock.  Not having any family background with cleft, we couldn't understand what had happened. I remember being so sad that I couldn't stop crying.  It was a sadness that I had never experienced before.  I felt sad for my husband and he felt sad for me as well. I felt that I must have done something wrong for this to have happened.  I did everything right and still our baby would be born with a birth defect.  The ultrasound technician jus sent us on our way with nothing.  No one to contact, no one to call for support.  We felt so alone.  I searched the internet to see what I could find.  I found lots of photos that honestly weren't easy to look at.  I tried imagining our child with her cleft and what it would be like.  Now I can't imagine our life without her.  Finally a friend of a family member got me in contact with Laurie Vessey.  What a GOD send!  She is surely an undercover angel!  She really put everything into prospective and put us in contact with other cleft families.  At last I could breathe, it was such a relief to know that other families were going through the same things.  Looking back on it, I worried a lot when I was pregnant.  I remember thinking about how would feel when I saw her for the first time.  I was so worried about seeing her for the first time.  Then the day came and it was better than anything I could have imagined!  Everyone warmed up to her.  Instantly we fell in love.  And we fell hard!  her cleft was such a small part of her, that we didn't even notice it.  And trust me, it was very noticeable.  To help our friends and family to better understand, I sent a letter with her birth announcements.

It read:

   As we expected from our ultrasound, Sierra was born with a bilateral cleft lip and palate. It is a very common and repairable birth condition.  The exact cause of clefting is unknown.  Cleft means divided or split.  The face is formed by the skin tissue migrating towards a meeting point in the middle area of the face.  If you rub your finger above your top lip, you will feel two ridges.  This is that meeting point.  In fact, it's the "cleft scars" of a non cleft-affected person.  The tissue naturally is joined by the fourth week of pregnancy.  In Sierra's case, the lip and palate failed to fuse together properly. 

This helped to inform people on what actually happened, because like ourselves, we didn't know much about cleft lip and palate.  It is the unknown that makes it so difficult.

As you can see, we have an AMAZING surgeon.  She's also an undercover angel!  Sierra has had 6 surgeries to date, 4 of them before her 1st birthday.  Her first surgery was the Latham Appliance.  The appliance aligned and moved everything to where it was supposed to be. 

The next surgery was a lip revision.  She wore a plastic piece in her nose for 2 months.  Boy, were we glad to have that out!  She wore gloves similar to boxing gloves on her hands during the 6 weeks.  The gloves helped to keep toys and her hands out of her mouth.  A palate repair followed just before her 1st birthday.  This surgery seemed a little easier because it was mostly inside her mouth.  Although, she did wear the arm restraints; she learned to crawl with them right away.  The surgeon fixed her palate, but the arm restraints made her look like she had two broken arms!  Our surgeon found a tooth in the roof of her mouth and moved it to her gum where she might be missing a tooth.  I'm not surprised she had issues with her teeth since she had 2 root canals and silver caps by 4 months old.  REALLY!!  AND she lost 2 teeth by 7 months old.  I guess we'll get to know the tooth fairy very well!

Sierra will under go many more surgeries.  We just have to take a little at a time, otherwise it's too overwhelming.  The advice I give you mothers having a baby with a cleft is try not to worry so much while you're pregnant, try to enjoy every minute.  I promise you'll fall in love...instantly! Next, love every changing smile that comes with each surgery.  You'll miss their old smile so enjoy them every chance you get.  Spend lot of time just staring at your baby.

Sierra is doing AMAZING!  Now at the age of 3, she is full of personality.  She's doing better than I could ever imagine.  I wouldn't trade her for the WORLD.  I hope my story helps you to understand the unknown.  If you have any questions or just want to chat, please feel free to contact me.  Thanks for listening!

Lori

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