| Three generations - Poppy, Daddy and
our darling Nathan (at approx. 3 weeks old). Nathan was born with a bilateral
cleft lip and premaxilla. His palate was intact making us fortunate enough to be
able to breastfeed. We had to work on positioning and until his lip repair, it was
necessary to hold my breast with one hand and cradle his head with the other to
have effective latch-on.
Nathan yawning. Almost 2
months old. |
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My beautiful boy - keeping
himself occupied as I clean up. Approximately 2 months old.
Nathan and mommy! I loved those
cheek-to-cheek hugs!
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Daddy gets Nathan dressed in his teeny
hospital gown just prior to his lip surgery. Daddy couldn't believe that even baby
gowns let the butt peek through! The surgery was done on Nathan's 3 month
"birthday". The hardest thing to do was to see the doctor take him away and
through those doors. We were so scared, but trusted in prayer and the support of
Nathan's grandparents, who were there with us to weather the waiting.
After what seemed an eternity, our baby was returned to us. When we
were able to gown up and go into the recovery room, he was swollen from IV fluid
retention, and had an oxygen mask misting over his face. As a parent you feel
like you want to rip off all the tubes and apparatus and pick your baby up in
your arms to hold him as close as you can for as long as you can. But you wait
and you watch, so that you are there by his side as he wakes up, so that he sees
your loving face and feels your loving touch caress him in this strange place.
This photo is some hours after the surgery, after we returned to his room and he
had a chance to wake up.
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For the first day after surgery, Nathan was not very interested in eating.
This picture shows some of the surroundings of our hospital experience. Until
the IV was removed, the tubes, etc. caused difficulty in breast feeding. But
we were amazed at Nathan's resilience, in that he tried breast feeding within
24 hours after surgery. The Logan's Bow made things a bit awkward at first,
until we got it positioned right. Over the next couple of days, we used the
syringe to feed most of the time, until Nathan progressively demanded more
breast feeding sessions. The hospital staff showed us how to clean Nathan's
surgery site and apply the ointment, and then we were released to fend for
ourselves. :)
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