No Rest for the Wicked

Emily's first operation is on Thursday, and she is currently going through what we affectionately call a 'growth spurt'.  This term covers all manner of evils, and basically means, as her Uncle Ronald put so well, 'I want...something...'  I know all new mothers have no time left in the day, but at them moment, I am constantly making lists in my head of all the things I want/need to do while feeding her, changing her nappy, or just not being allowed to put her down (for those of you who are not parents, what I am trying to say is that the five minutes of free time she allows me is used to relieve my bursting bladder... and sometimes she comes with me to the loo).  Not least on this 'to do' list which is writing this blog.  So while my saint of a mother, and Emily's doting Granny Netts, feeds her, I am grabbing this opportunity to quickly update her blog.


Right, back to Thursday... my mind is racing!  This is the first of at least three operations she will go through, and is the cosmetic operation. 'To make her look normal'!  That is the reason given in the motivation letter to medical aid from the plastic surgeon... I kid you not.  Basically, it is the operation to close her cleft lip.  Meanwhile, she is perfect to me, and I don't see anything wrong with her, so this operation is freaking me out!
I always thought it so strange when reading up about the cleft operations and how parents would say that they would be happy not to have this op.  But now I know exactly what they mean.  The plastic surgeon doing the op, Dr Christie Smit, says that he is always taken aback when the parents see their baby for the first time after he has completed the procedure.  He shows them the child and is so proud of the work he has done, and their reaction is generally: 'oh, that's...nice...' because they no longer recognise the little one as their baby!
The operation entails detaching the muscle from the side of her nose, and then joining the lip in three layers.  First the mucous layer on the inside of her lip, then the muscle, and finally the skin.  Before they wake her, they inject her lip full of local anaesthetic.  This makes her lip completely numb and will allow her to feed a lot sooner.  And, as soon as she can feed, she can come home. Usually the same day!
Like I said, completely freaked out.  At this stage, my mind can't tell me what is worrying me more, the pain of the op, or not recognising my daughter.  At the same time, I am trying so hard not to worry about it so that she picks up on my concern and heightens her sense of anxiety.  Just shoot me full of horse tranquilizers and wake me when it's over!  But, please, video it all, because I don't want to miss a thing... maybe I'm going through a growth spurt too!

The Diary of Emily Bean

We found out at our 20 week scan that our daughter, Emily Bean, had a cleft lip.  It came as a complete surprise as we had done everything ‘right’ to ensure the best possible start for our child.  A week later we were told, after having a 3D scan, that she, in fact, had a cleft lip and a cleft palate!

So began my wild quest to gather as much info as possible about her condition before she arrived so that I could be as prepared as anyone can be for firstly, your first child, and secondly, a cleft lip and palate baby!

I remember leaving the 3D scan with the advice ringing in my ears: ‘take care of yourself, because the last thing you want is a premature cleft baby’.  Needless to say, Emily was born premature!

This was my baptism of fire into motherhood and the challenges of having a cleft palate baby.

Because of all I have learnt so far, I felt it important to start this blog, so that other cleft parents can benefit from it too.  I think this blog will also serve to help me remember all we (the Emily Bean Team) have been through, because time goes so quickly and one forgets, too soon.  And, lastly, I want to keep this blog, so that Emily can always know that we thought she was beautiful, and precious, and perfect from the start.  This is for you, my darling Beanie.