9 Month Check-up

Today we went to the pediatrician for Rylan's 9 month appointment and she gets another good bill of health.  She is 15 lbs. 4 oz. (only the 5th percentile this time) and 25 1/4 inches long.  The doctor still isn't concerned about her weight since she is eating fine and making all of her developmental milestones.  Looks like she is just going to be one petite girl.  

Things have been going very well here and we've got 3 new big events to share! First, I think I am finally getting Rylan on a napping schedule.  The last two days she has taken both of her naps in her crib with only minimal crying before falling asleep.  She has been sleeping for longer than she used to which has been great for me.  It is nice to finally be able to get her to sleep without her bottle. 

The next big thing is that she is getting her 4th tooth.  It is coming in in the part of her gums that were visible before her cleft was closed.  It seems to be coming in pretty straight and right in the middle, so maybe her teeth won't be too affected.  

Finally, Rylan is starting to stand on her own for a few seconds at a time.  It is usually just a second or two where she lets go (as you can see in the video) but the other day she stood for a full five seconds before falling back down!  Yeah Rylan!

As Promised...

My cute new shoes...playing with my new toy...making some strange new sounds :)

Almost 9 Months Old

Where does the time go?  Rylan will be turning 9 months this week and it certainly doesn't feel like she's been with us that long.  Sorry I haven't updated lately, but I've been going away a lot and haven't really had time to get on the computer.  As soon as I'm settled at home again, I'll be sure to add some new pics.

She is doing really well.  Her surgery site is healing nicely and she has been a lot better with the scar massage, thanks to a helpful hint about a song from a fellow family of a daughter with a cleft.  We don't go back to see Dr. Morrissey until the middle of August, but I don't really need him at the moment anyway.  The only thing I am wondering, which maybe he will be able to give some advice on, is how to teach Rylan to suck.  Since she has been using the Haberman since she was born, she's never really had to suck.  When I try to give her a regular bottle, she tries to drink it like normal, which involves kind of making a fishy face, opening and closing her mouth.  I decided that maybe I just need to keep having her work on it, even if it means she is eating really slowly.  Today she had a few moments were it looked like she was sucking and there were actual bubbles forming in the milk, so maybe we're making progress.  We could just keep using the Habermans, but she needs to learn to suck to drink from a sippy cup anyway, so why not make the transition with the bottle.

Our other big project has been trying to get Rylan to go to bed at night without falling asleep to her bottle.  She has always been a really good sleeper, but she has needed to be asleep before we lay her down, otherwise she would scream and scream until she could get the bottle again.  While it isn't a big deal to me, it has made naps also a problem because she will only sleep to her bottle then too.  She also has never had a consistent bed time, since we wouldn't put her down until she feel asleep, which could be anywhere form 7 - 10 at night.  About 2 weeks ago, we started getting her ready for bed at 7, reading her a story, feeding her a bottle, and laying her in her crib awake.  She screamed for almost an hour the first night and has slowly cried less and less.  Tonight was the first night where I layed her down and she didn't let out one cry.  She is currently sleeping soundly.  Woohoo!

Pictures and videos to come soon!

Beautiful New Smile

2 Weeks Post-op

Sorry I haven't written in awhile, but we had a very busy weekend.

On Friday we had Rylan's post-op appointment with Dr. Morrissey.  He snipped some of her stitches and cleaned things up a little bit.  He said that everything is looking good and told us her nose will drain for a little bit but just to keep cleaning it out.  We were given the name of a scar cream to rub on her face twice a day that he wanted us to start on Monday.  (We discovered yesterday that this is going to be a two-person job because she does not like people touching her face).  He said that she will probably need minor work on her nose down the line and possibly some fix-ups on her lip, but we will just have to wait and see. We go back to see him on August 17th. 

I think her lip looks really good and am excited to see how it heals.  It was a tough decision whether to use Dr. Morrissey or drive down to CHOP, but now I am feeling much better about our decision.  He is very good at what he does, although he does not work strictly with clefts.  Next stop for us is to start seeing the dentist/orthodontist.  

10 Day Update

Monday night we switched Rylan from sleeping in her car seat to the pack'n'play.  She slept great till midnight then was up for 2 hours crying and fussy.  We ended up giving her some Tylenol and she went to sleep within minutes and slept through the rest of the night.  Last night she woke up a few times, but went back to sleep pretty easily when we gave her a bottle.  She seems to have lost her ability to put herself to sleep, which happened with her last surgery too.  A few more days to make sure her surgery site isn't bothering her and then we'll have to start the sleep training again.

We go to see Dr. Morrissey on Friday for our post-op check-up and stitch removal.  I can't believe how well her lip looks.  The scab on her lip is almost completely gone and there is only a slight indication of a scar.  The skin between her lip and nose is flawless...I don't know what he did but there is no sign of any scar there.  Her nose is still draining a bit so until it is cleaned out completely, it's hard to see what it will all look like.  I am assuming she will need to have some plastic surgery done on her nose when she gets older, but we'll have to wait and see.

Lookin' Good

One week post-op and the first picture without the tape.  It looks even better in real life!