Did you know?

Isn't he cute? (For more of these super fabulous newborn photos, please check out Aunty Staci's photography blog) Gunnar is chalking up to be a baby with an interesting temperament. He is generally calm and very snuggly... but when he gets angry, he demonstrates that he has, indeed, inherited the hotheadedness that so many of our family members possess.

Gunnar was born with a cleft soft palate. I had no idea what that was, hence I am going to assume that you are in the same boat and educate everybody. Because, as reality would have it, none of us know what these things are until we are immediately affected.

This is what your mouth should look like, if it has formed normally in utero. This is helpful, because you may not even realize that you are looking at a malformed palate without a reminder of what the usual looks like.

First and foremost, there are many, many variations of a cleft. Cleft lips (unilateral or bilateral), cleft soft palate, and cleft hard palate. A child can have an isolated incident of one of the aforementioned or a combination of all three. It is a congenital defect (happens early in utero) and can be hereditary (although no one on either side of our families has one). Fortunately for us, Gunnar's cleft is only of the soft palate, this means he has no facial deformity and that his hard palate is intact.

This photo that I found, depicts Gunnar's cleft type nearly indentically. You can see that the hole to the throat is enlarged, as he is missing the membrane of skin and uvula.

What does this mean for us? His throat, nasal passages, and middle ear are basically all open to one another and he cannot generate any suction. He cannot nurse from the breast or feed normally from a bottle. Also, every time he spits up, it comes out his nose (which is painful and makes him REAL mad). Babies such as he are prone to ear infections, although breastmilk fed ones are much, much less likely to develop them. As I insist that he be fed breastmilk, I am pumping exclusively and then bottle-feeding him. I will never, ever take for granted the ease of simply putting a baby to the breast for feeding. He will have to undergo a corrective surgery at around one year of age.

At first it was hard to accept that our child was not perfect. It was hard to accept the reality of all the work required to feed him. As a control freak, perfectionist, and "type A" personality I do not expect things to be difficult for me. My expectations are always that of "I will accomplish this with ease and fluidity," and when things go otherwise I am vexed and frustrated. However, we are rising to meet the challenge and truly Gunnar is perfectly healthy and normal otherwise and a complete blessing.

Thank you to our NUMEROUS friends, neighbors, and family for being so incredibly supportive. Eric has been truly great. He is a man accustomed to being doted and fawned over and he has really stepped up to the plate - working a full day and then coming home to cook, clean, care for the girls, and handle sleep-deprived, hormonal postpartum, sometimes weepy/other times bitchy wifey. You are a champ, handsome, and I love you.

Cheers to babes!

P.S. I am crazy busy with the pumping story, so I will post intermittently and when I do look for a few a couple days in a row and then it will likely be a while before I get to uploading photos and posting again!