Pacifiers

I was told by LeAnn at Primary Childrens that we will probably want to have a special pacifier for when Grace finally arrives. She told me about Wubbanubs that you can buy from places like this:

http://www.wubbanub.com/wubbanub-pacifiers.html

Wubbanub Infant Pacifier - Pink Horse

I decided to try and make my own at home. McDonalds has the small Ty toys with their happy meals right now so I thought that would be perfect for a newborn. Then I bought the Soothie pacifiers for Newborns and just sewed them on. I guess these are great for Premature babies as well, so they have something to hang on to. I think they turned out okay!

Choosing a Surgeon

Yesterday was a very big and stressful day for our family. Choosing a Surgeon is a very big and difficult decision. We wanted so much to get the best person we could find to work on our little girl. I know that this will impact her for the rest of her life, and I felt a lot of stress worrying that we were going to make the right decision. Over the past couple of months, I have been doing a lot of research into surgeons in our area. I created a spreadsheet (I know it sounds a little silly) where I had their names, information, number of surgeries in the past year, any awards or recognition, whether or not I had received any recommendations about that surgeon, and even looked at pictures from their surgeries to see who I thought was the best. I talked with many mothers here locally about their experiences with their surgeons, why they chose them, and even got to see a lot of pictures. After all of my research I cam to the conclusion that Dr. Morales here in Salt Lake was the best. I was aprehensive however, because many of the families and mentioned that his bedside manner wasn't very good. I knew that I needed to feel comfortable and trust my surgeon in every aspect before I would hand my little one over, so we decided to go and meet with Dr. Morales. We met with him yesterday and I was so impressed. He was very direct (which is good), but also very kind. We looked at a lot of results, went over the processes, and discussed plans, he looked at our ultrasound and gave us some insight and was just overall fantastic. I feel so much better knowing that my little girl will be in his hands. He did tell us that he thought based upon our pictures that the palate was most likely not affected, but he thought maybe she would have a little hitch on the the other side as well making it a bilateral cleft lip instead of unilateral. He did say that they look incomplete however. Obvioiusly we have to wait until she arrives to see all of it, and know for sure. Although I am still very nervous about the surgery and sending her off, I do feel much better knowing that we have made a decision and have a person that we trust to work on her. We will start 6-8 weeks after she arrives either with a surgery or with pre-surgery preparation depending on whether or not her palate is affected. What a big day for our family.

31 weeks and counting!

We are now 31 weeks. Art and I attended a 3rd trimester class to prepare us for labor and birth. I am really glad that we went and I learned so much. One of the main things I took away is that I have so much to focus on and do that day, that I can't be stressed at all about her cleft. It made me even more glad that I found out now and am able to learn and prepare in advance. Although I will still think about it often, and prepare for it for her (finding the right surgeon etc.) I have to focus on bringing her safely into the world. I love this little girl! We meet with a potential surgeon tomorrow. I will let you know how that goes.

Camping!

We went camping this weekend. I think Grace really likes it because she was very busy the entire time. I think I may be a little bruised in a couple of places because of all of her kicking. I love this little girl!

Information

Although I was a little overwhelmed last week I really felt like I walked away with some great information. I am now prepared no matter what we find out when she arrives. We will be getting one more ultrasound at 34 weeks, so maybe they will be able to see even more.
LeAnn took some time at the hospital to walk us through bottle feeding our little one, just in case she is not able to breastfeed. Some great things I thought that she shared is that I should allow her to try anyway, as it makes her feel like she is accomplishing things. It broke my heart when LeAnn told me that Grace will come out after practicing to eat for nine months, thinking that she has it down, and when it becomes hard for her, she will wonder what I am doing wrong, because she won't understand that it just won't work for her. I will still do the best I can and work on getting that connection and letting her know that she is doing a great job! The bottles are a little difficult, and I hope to remember all of the pieces and "little tricks".
She also gave us some information sheets that you can find online at their website:
https://kr.ihc.com/ext/Dcmnt?ncid=520408176
Now we are on to deciding on a surgeon. It is a very difficult decision. I have created a spreadsheet with all of the facts about each surgeon, history, awards, peoples recommendations. I think we are going to go and meet Dr. Morales as I have heard great things about him, and then maybe follow up with Dr. Warnock if we don't find a connections with Dr. Morales. (these are personal opinions although I am sure all doctors up there are great). I will keep you updated on the process, but I highly recommend before you have a surgery to really research your doctor, look at pictures, and ask people what their experiences have been. I will give more information soon!

Interesting Information!

Things went well yesterday when meeting with LeAnn at Primary Childrens. I have some great information to share, however, I will wait to do that until next Monday. I know it is the best, but she did go over everything with "worst case scenario" and I am still a little emotional worried about what my little girl will be going through, so maybe I can process it better by Monday. I did learn and interesting fact though, that although nationally kids are impacted by clefts about 1 in every 600/700, but here in the state of Utah it is 1 in every 450. She also said that St. George seems to be even higher than that. I thought that was interesting. Also one of the ladies on the Utah Group put this website up for Haberman feeders. I won't be ordering any yet, but I thought it may be useful to you.

http://www.kidsurplus.com/itemDetail-item-19%20MED%206000S~catid-218~fromsearch-true.asp