Right as Rain

So it's been just over 12 hours since Jake's surgery and he's back to his old self already. Grandma and Grandpa came to visit this evening and he was sitting up on his own, laughing, and grabbing at Grandma's hair - just like always! In a way, the partial repair has been nice. It's an easier adjustment visually. He still looks like Jake, just a little bit different. He certainly acts like Jake. We read our favorite book, played peek-a-boo through the crib bars, and now he's refusing to settle down and go to sleep. Just like every night! Here he is catching a little tv before bed.

Jake's First Surgery

4am is Too Early!

Jake is out of surgery and sleeping peacefully. The surgery went well, although they were not able to do the full lip repair as we had hoped. There was not enough lip tissue to bridge the gap (which is pretty wide!) so they had to do just a partial lip adhesion. We'll have to bring him back in later to get his lip worked on again. Not what we were hoping for, but not really a surprise. Today has been hard on all of us - we're exhausted. On top of everything else, we had to get up at 4am! But, for the moment, things are peaceful. I think I'll take a cue from Jake and just take a nap.

Cleared for Surgery

Playing in the waiting room

Sleeping it off

Surgery Tomorrow

Jake's surgery is at 6am tomorrow. Almost done packing and cleaning house! I'll be posting from the hospital provided I can get on the hospital's wireless and only if Jake doesn't need me for a few minutes. Here is Jake and turtle taking a break from the NAM. This is the 'before' picture!

Jake Speaks! (sort of...)

Jake is starting to make a lot of new sounds. We were kind of surprised. With a cleft soft palette, I thought we wouldn't hear much more than the incessant "eh, eh, eh," noise that he makes. His first sounds were "ow," and "ai." (After every sneeze or cough, he used to say "ow." We cracked up every time!) Within the last week, he's added g, r, and l sounds! The g sound is actually a result of him gurgling drool, but he does it purposefully to say something like "grar." Yesterday morning, he looked up at me and said "lal!" I couldn't believe it! (Laundry Jake!)

Jake's New (Safer!) Highchair

So the yesterday we had a little scare during lunchtime. It wasn't really a big deal, but it rattled me a little! Jake's reflux has been acting up a little the past few days. He and Lily were in their highchairs when Jake spit up and started choking. Lily has a Graco highchair (pretty pink!) with a quick-release 5 point harness. Jake's was an Evenflow that had a 5 point harness, but the shoulder/waist straps were one solid loop. To get him in, you had to put his arms through the loops. Well, when he started choking, he started flailing his arms, and I couldn't get him out! I ended up having to tip the whole highchair forward with him in it until he coughed it all out. That was enough for me. That very day, I traded the Evenflow in to Kid to Kid for another Graco with a 5pt quick release. They even had a matching one in a blue pattern! So now our highchairs are equally safe and match too. Couldn't ask for more.

Getting Closer!

Jake's appointment with Dr. Yamashiro went great yesterday. He said Jake's nose is really shaping up and was happy with how close together the palate is. I'm still a little nervous about his lip. We just can't get tape to stick to that one little side because it's on a different level. The tape sticks to the right side of his lip, then skips straight to his left cheek. Ah well, I guess if there's nothing you can do, then there's no sense worrying about it (I will anyway though! :) Here's Jake getting some Daddy-Tickles!

Taping the NAM

We've worked out a great system for taping Jake's NAM, so I thought I'd share. Instead of the transpore, we use band-aids to make the rubber band tapes. The fabric kind are the best. We still use the dots because Jake's cheeks will react to the adhesive, but they stay so much better that we can keep them on for a few days at a time. This results in less overall irritation - yay! So here's what you do;
1. Cut bandaid in half while still in the package
2. Remove from the package and trim the ends
3. Remove one side of the adhesive covering
4. Thread the rubber band over the sticky end, all the way down to the bandaid's pad
5. Fold over the sticky end and you're done!

It's so much easier to store and get on his cheeks. The folded over part gives your a great place to hold onto it while the baby is squirming! We store them in one of those Gladware disposable containers. The lid is molded so that you can measure out the lip tapes ahead of time and just stick them to the lid. So handy! I've also started folding over a little bit of tape at each end, so we can get them off easier. Otherwise they really stick to the dots.