First Surgery....April 25th, 2012

Liam 1 month old

Liam was born with a Bilateral Cleft lip & palate that made it
hard for him to feed.  He came home from the hospital with a NG tube (feeding tube through his nose) & we were constantly having to use it to help give him his medications & complete feedings.  We were grateful to have this option because he was only able to eat a few ounces at his own at most for a very long time but the NG tube had to be taped down on his face.  He also had to wear a NAM which is kind of like a retainer that again had to be set into place by using small rubberbands & again that involved even more tape.  Pretty soon Liam's face was covered with lots of tape & so all you could see were his gorgeous big (think they will be Blue) eyes.


 Another downside to having the clefts is that with such a wide smile he swallowed lots of air which caused him to be extremely gassy.  The need to repair the cleft quickly became a need for his own comfort versus the fact that it made him "look different".  Although I was anxious to get this surgery completed I grew to Love his special look more & more with each passing day so when Liam finally hit 10 lbs & was ready for surgery, I found myself very nervous to be introduced to my new baby & began to cry when the nurse took him from my arms.


Day after surgery

We waited anxiously to hear each update & to learn how he was doing.  The feedback we got was always positive & then finally we were able to see him!!  His face was very swollen from the procedure & we found that they had to stitch down his tongue to keep it in place.  It was hard seeing him so uncomfortable & to know that he didn't understand what was happening but one thing was for sure, he was still my little precious Liam & he still looked the same to me.







 

Because Liam had the feeding tube they were able to keep him fed so that kept him more comfortable & allowed him to come home after 2 days.  He had a lot of healing to do but everything looked great & we were very happy with the plastic surgeon that we chose & the care he received at Primary Children's Hospital.