A Surgery Date!

We were given a surgery date for Rachel's first of two surgeries for her lip repair. The first surgery will be Monday, November 8th. The surgery scheduler said Rachel would be Dr Lehocky's first case of the day, and he normally starts his day around 7:30am.

Wow! Surgery...2 weeks from today. Having a date makes it all seem so real. However, sending a baby off to surgery and put under general anesthesia is no new adventure to me, as Hannah had abdomial surgery at 5 months old. This will be the first of 3 surgeries for Rachel over the course of the next 10 months. I'd say I better get busy and start clicking some more pictures of my baby with her wide smile!

So Thankful...

There are somedays when I look at Rachel and I'm sad that she has to endure this journey. To be honest, there are days it's makes me sad that we have this journey. I know how "lucky" we are that all Rachel has is a cleft lip and cleft palate. There are so many much worse things that our baby could have been born with...things untreatable, unfixable. All it takes is going to Disneyland and seeing other families with children...and I am so thankful that my daughter can see, can hear, shows no problems that she'll have difficulty walking, and is perfect in every functioning way. The visual of seeing other children who are far worse off than Rachel, really puts it into perspective for me and really makes me thankful that all Rachel has is a cleft lip and cleft palate.

7 Weeks and Counting

Rachel is now 7 weeks old. She's gaining weight and growing well, and has no problems when it comes to feeding. At her 6 week check up with her pediatrician, she weighed 11lbs 12oz and was almost 22 inches long. It's a huge relief to not worry about her feeding and her gaining weight.

Rachel is starting to make little noises which is so cute to hear. While she's been a good sleeper from the very beginning, the last 5 nights Rachel has slept 10-4:30/5:30am. We're so thankful for the Lord blessing us with a baby that sleeps so well!

We met with the craniofacial team at Loma Linda University Children's Hospital on September 27. We met with a total of 6 doctors, including the plastic surgeon. We are currently waiting for the plastic surgeon to fit us into his schedule for Rachel's first surgery. Because Rachel's cleft lip is so wide, the plastic surgeon said her lip would require 2 surgeries to fully repair. The first surgery could be anytime now, and the second surgery will be 3 months from the first surgery. Her palate will repaired when she is closer to 12 months old.

It's hard to imagine Rachel without her 'wide smile' as I've grown used to it. I've read accounts online of other cleft families who were a bit sad after the initial lip repair because they missed seeing the wide smile. The more and more I look at Rachel's wide smile, I think I understand what they mean.

A Little History

Rachel was born August 31, and just as an ultrasound had suspected, she was a big baby. She weighed 9lbs 5oz and was 19 inches long. We didn't know of Rachel's cleft lip and palate until she was being delivered via c-section. The discovery was a complete shock to us, as the cleft was not discovered in any of the ultrasounds I had while pregnant.

The first couple of days following Rachel's birth were pretty hard emotionally. We weren't expecting our baby to be born less than perfect. We knew we had a pretty rough road ahead of us. But for some reason God allowed this and it was in His will. And because of that, we know God will get us through this journey. And throughout this journey He will be glorified.

Getting Started...

I've been wanting to put together a web site for people to come to and follow Rachel's progress. I recently came across this site and liked the style, etc. So here I am, officially getting started with this web site.

Please feel free to bookmark this site and come back often to see Rachel's progress and the latest news, and pictures.