Cleft Lip Repair

Five days after Isla's birth we attended our first cranio-facial clinic where we met with her case manger, plastic surgeon, otolaryngologist (ear, nose, throat specialist) genetic counselor and speech and feeding specialist.

The team was assembled for us and they were ready to treat all aspects of Isla's birth defects. We weren't told much about what to expect so arriving at the clinic was honestly a bit of a shock to our systems. We had gotten about 2 hours of sleep the previous night as it was our first night at home with Isla and we were told to be at the hospital for 7am. We stood against the wall in the waiting room because all the seats were taken by parents accompanied by their beloved children. All of the children had cranio-facial abnormalities ranging from mild to severe. We must have been a sight, both standing there absolutely exhausted, holding our tiny 5.5 lb baby shocked that we were members of this new world.

Nate has one particular memory of a father bouncing his child on his knee, both child and baby were laughing and smiling. The child had a very sever facial defect but the father still poured blind love over his perfect child.

Three months later Isla had her cleft lip repair. She finally weighed 10 lbs and was approximately 3 months old, both prerequisites to undergo this surgery. The surgery took over 3 hours and we waited impatiently for the doctor to come through the doors. Although the surgery is considered "minor" it was quite the opposite to Nathan and I. Isla has been put under with anesthesia twice now and it is never easy because there is always a risk.

Once, the surgeon gave us the okay to see Isla I ran towards her cries, I think I left poor Nate behind to carry everything. I held her and I rocked with her and I cried. I was so afraid that her face would look different to me. I fell in love with the face that she was born with and it was perfect to me just as the man in the waiting room saw his child as perfect. Nate and I both agreed that having the cleft lip repair was the right thing to do for Isla but would have kept her face just the way it was if it wasn't for the health benefits and social acceptance.

At first she looked different to me and that made me cry but as she began to open her eyes I saw that it was still my baby and cried more. As each day passed the swelling went down and emerged was the face that I had loved all along.

Isla was extremely lucky to be born in the United States. Children born with cleft lips and palates in numerous other countries are not so lucky. Many children are shamed for having these defects and are forced to live in hiding. Today there are many non-profit organizations that visit these countries and perform these surgeries for free. They also train local doctors and nurses to perform these surgeries themselves after the organizations have moved on.I listed just a couple of links below for information about cleft lips and palates and the organizations that help the children born with wide smiles around the world.

www.operationsmile.org

www.smiletrain.org

http://www.marchofdimes.com/professionals/14332_1210.asp