Big Day (Especially for Mommy!)

The first swimming experience is always exciting, but even more so when Mommy was a swimmer.  I couldn't wait to get Rylan in the water and see how she liked it.  It went even better than I expected.  We spent about 30 minutes in the water and she didn't cry at all.   She really liked playing in the little fountain and didn't seem to mind all of the water that was spraying into her face.  I can't wait to take her back to the pool!

Little Miss Personality

Life with Rylan has been so much fun lately.  She is starting to become her own little person and it makes the days go much faster than when she was a newborn.  She still seems to love squash the most, but also eats bananas and pears.  Yesterday we tried peas and those did not go over too well.  When I put them in her mouth, she gave me a look that said, "Mom, you must be kidding me."

We were supposed to go see Dr. Morrissey tomorrow, but our appointment got pushed back to next week.  I'm pretty sure that her lip is fully healed so I am expecting he will schedule her surgery for  sometime in May.  Her cleft has made eating a bit of a challenge at times because she accidentally pushes the food up into her nose.  After each meal I have to use a q-tip to clean the puree out of her nostril and she does not like that at all. 

Rylan has finally achieved rolling both ways, which makes both of us happier. She is still practicing her free falling for when she goes sky diving in the future though.  Here is a video of her newly learned skill.  Note the t-shirt for all of you Phillies fans!

She has also decided it is extremely funny to blow raspberries all the time.  I finally was able to catch it on tape and it was her best one ever!

No Manners

I guess we need to teach Rylan that you aren't supposed to talk with your mouth full!  At least she is enjoying eating the squash (although everything, including her pants, ended up orange!)

 

A big squashy smile

Let Me Help Mommy!

Today was our best day eating the rice cereal.  I actually had to make two extra servings after Rylan finished the first one.  I have learned two important things that will help feeding time in the future.  First, the food goes in better on the side of her small lip, instead of the big lip.  Doesn't totally make sense to me but I won't question it.  Second, Rylan has to be holding the spoon otherwise she won't open her mouth to eat.  Guess she is already showing off her independent personality!

After all of that eating, what better time to take a nap!

Not My Tummy!

We are now three weeks post surgery and Rylan's lip is completely healed and back to normal.  I have been trying to keep up with the tape but it has really become a lost cause.  It is soaking wet a few minutes after we put it on, so I mostly replace it right before she goes to bed.  I am very curious when we go in the middle of April to see how soon Dr. Morrissey wants to schedule the next surgery.  Part of me just wants to get it over with and the other part wants to prolong it as long as possible, especially since Rylan is doing well right now.  

We have had many exciting moments in the last week or so.  She ate her first bit of rice cereal and has been improving each day.  As you can see, the first day most of it ended up on her face!

She has also learned to roll from her back to her belly.  However, she is not so good at rolling back over and she doesn't really like her tummy.  Most of the time she ends up screaming and we have to roll her back.  

Here is a 2 minute video that shows all Rylan can do at almost 5 months old!  We've got talking, tongue sticking out, grabbing our feet, eating our hands, rolling over, and crying!  Enjoy!

Two Weeks Later

It has been two weeks since Rylan's surgery and you would never know that it happened.  She is completely back to herself (including sleeping at night) and of course, her lip looks pretty similar to her pre-surgery lip.  She had her 4 month check-up today and is growing well.  Small in all areas, but that is not surprising looking at her Mommy and Daddy.  We got permission from the doctor to start some rice cereal in the next few weeks.  I am so excited to start feeding her real food!  Hopefully she doesn't have too much trouble keeping the food in her mouth.

Today was also exciting because Rylan was the "Smile of the Day" on Andi's Smile Page on Facebook.  This is a site run by young girl who also had a cleft lip and palate.  She raises money and awareness for Smile Train and everyday she chooses a new baby with a cleft to be honored as the "Smile of the Day".  It is fun to see Rylan on there.  I made sure to print the page out for her baby book so she can see how many people thought her cleft smile was beautiful!

Surgeon Visit

The visit with the surgeon went well this morning.  He was very disappointed that it split but was still positive about everything.  He considered having her come back in to the hospital on Monday to repair it, but once he saw her he decided that was not a good idea.   He said that the tissue was so soft that it would just pull apart if he tried to stitch it so soon.  His recommendation is that we don't attempt the lip adhesion again, but instead just do the real repair.  He said he would have liked to have the lip adhesion in place to help minimize scarring, but he doesn't think it is worth the risk to try it again. 

I asked him why the adhesion can split but the real repair can't.  He explained that they make the same markings for both surgeries, but in the adhesion they can't cut into as much of the tissue as they do with the repair.  This is because some of the tissue needs to stay intact otherwise the real repair won't be effective.  Basically the adhesion is a more superficial surgery, while the real repair goes into deeper tissue and uses stronger stitches.  There should be no chance for the lip repair to split after that surgery. 

We go back to see him again in one month.  Until then, looks like I am back to taping her lip (Ughhh!).  I know the adhesion wasn't as successful as we hoped, but I can see some improvement.  

On a side note, Rylan still isn't sleeping well.  I've been having to get up with her every hour or so, but she does go right back to sleep when comforted.  This morning she slept from 3:30 - 7:30, so maybe we are getting back on the right track!