we have a date.....

finally, we have a date for Wyatt's surgery.

MARCH 20, 2013

It has been the elephant in the room for me. i think about it ALL the time. people ask me and i have had no idea. now, its set and its real.

on March 19, 2012, it was my 18 week appointment where we heard our baby had a cleft. the day where jack and i spent staring at each other over lunch. the afternoon where i laid in the chair at the fetal specialist for hours watching them go over every detail that they could of my 18 week old child. it was a scary day and so much was unknown to us. 

then we were blessed with the beautiful boy who i am obsessed with!

now, exactly one year later, the face that my beautiful son was born with, is getting "fixed" as they say. it will be a big surgery with the soft palate being brought together, the nose being built up, and his lip closed. 

here are some up close and personal pics of wyatt's nose and palate opening..

 left side unilateral cleft lip. 90% palate on the left is open. they will "build up" the left nostril because there isn't any cartilage there.

 right side profile

 left side profile

 here is a picture of his palate. many people can't believe how open it is.....they are pretty shocked when they see it. this is how he has had a difficult time eating, etc. bc it just comes up through the nose

 if you look closely, (his left, our right) is a 90% opening (a long line), then it opens up again and he has 10% open on the right palate. so, he is partially bi-lateral palate. his uvula is split in half. during surgery #1, they will close the back and leave that skinny line on the right open (his left hard palate)

i can't imagine how his face will look once it is closed....just as i couldn't imagine how is face would look when he was born.

i would say i'm the lucky one.

i get to fall in love with his face twice.

and to be clear: when i say it is an elephant in the room, it is my thoughts of dreading the surgery....my thoughts of people wondering when i was going to get it fixed. not my thoughts of what people think about wyatt. his face is gorgeous. i am the one that doesn't want it to go away!