Riley's Doctor Appt

We had Riley's appt with the cleft team this past Monday in New Orleans, everything went well. We were there for about 2 hours and met with everyone on the team and she was examined and looks like the only thing right now is her lip. So that was good news to hear. They said she may have some problems with her teeth where the cleft is but we will not know until teeth start coming in.

They explained to us how the surgery would work. For her first surgery they will repair her lip and do some work on her nose. Her nose will not be perfect after this surgery, there is not enough carrtliage in the nose when they are babies so they do not have much to work with. She will have another surgery on her nose at the age of 5 and then he said they all have a nose job around 14 years of age(puberty) for deviated septums. It was alot of information to process and they showed us a picture of a little baby boy right after his surgery, this really got to me. He just looked so beat up and swollen and with the stitches, it just broke my heart. I think this is going to be the hardest part for me, seeing my baby like that.

They called us this morning and we have a surgery date of 2/23 at 730am.
The surgery will last about 2 hours and she will stay overnight in the hospital. We will go back the following Monday to have the stitches removed. I had a mini meltdown after I got off the phone with them and broke down in tears, I think just having the date and it being so soon got to me. I am so scared of her having surgery and being so young, but I know she will be in good hands. So we are just getting geared up for that. are The good thing about all of this is I will still be on maternity leave and will have three more weeks at home with her before I have to return to work.

Lots going on this month. Ella Kate has a Mardi Gras parade at daycare on 2/19 so we will be decorating her wagon for her and Emery to "roll"! Then we have Ella Kate's birthday party on 2/21 and her actual birthday on 2/22. So our little girls are definelty keeping us BUSY!!!!!