The new normal

Those lips! I miss them! All 3 of them! (Hey, I can, I'm his mom) It's been 3 whole weeks since surgery!

Well his new smile is already normal to me. I'm already forgetting what he use to look like... It makes me sad but I still have a sweet little face to love on that is JUST as cute! Curtis made a comment a few days ago saying he looks like a "normal" baby now and he didn't like it. I laughed and I had to agree with him a little bit. I disparately miss those lips. 

Hudson had a follow up appointment with Dr. Beals on Wednesday. He said things looked really good AND he removed the nasal stint. (yay!) It wasn't a fun thing though. We held him down tight as he cried and cried and Dr. Beals clipped what I assumed to be stitches in his nose and pulled the stint out. Gives me goose bumps just thinking about it. I don't know how he clipped what ever he clipped in that tiny little nose with tiny little scissors with a squirming around little boy with out it being a bloody mess! But that's why we pay the big bucks... but actually what we have paid in total so far has really been nothing. Thank you insurance.

I told him Hudson had lost a pound since surgery and that he is still struggling with eating. Boo. Frustrating I tell you! So he sent me over to Deborah the speech pathologist who is in the same place as Dr. Glick. Fortunately we were able to see her that same day but 3 hours later so I had to drive BACK to Phoenix. Another boo. She was very very helpful AND I was able to show Hudson off to Dr. Glick and her staff since he had his repair. There was also a lady there signing who ever wanted up for the Craniofacial Foundation of Arizona which Dr. Beals founded. I'm not gonna lie I mainly did it for the retreat to a Phoenix resort in August that is only $60 for me Curtis and Hudson for 2 nights! Sweet! It'll be fun to meet other families too I'm sure.

So Deborah watched me feed Hudson and came to the conclusion that his lip is still sensitive. Which makes sense since it's only been 3 weeks. Sure it looks good on the outside but it's still healing. So thats why he isn't eating so well. Even if it doesn't hurt as much as it did in the beginning she said he still associates his bottle with pain on his lip so he's careful. She also brought up that he ate so well that first day because it was probably still numb. Duh. So now comes the massaging... Easy? No. I'm suppose to massage his lip 2-3 times a day to help loosen it up and help it become less sensitive. Wiping his face off after spoon feeding him is like torture. He wont let me near his lip. I touch it and he flinches away and starts whining. SO that's going to be fun. She was very helpful and gave me some good tips though.

I also scored 3 bottles and 6 new nipples from Deborah. Which I have to order online and the nipples are like $3 each! Plus shipping! Not a fan. They need replaced after like 2 months. She only gave me new ones because I cut all of Hudson's bigger so he wouldn't have trouble eating which helped a little but she thinks he'll get better at using the uncut ones. So since Wednesday feeding Hudson has been a chore! It takes 20-30 minutes and he cries through almost all of it. It drives me crazy. It's like the first 2 weeks we brought him home all over again.

Since surgery he's been a totally different baby. Not cool man. He's always cranky and sleeping and naps are off. I guess he IS a "normal" baby now. Not a perfect little angel anymore. :) I'm hoping it's just him adjusting from surgery still and the fact that he got spoiled that week and he's probably teething.

So he's a free man for now until his palate repair at 9 months old. Dang, that's only like 3 months away! I get stressed just thinking about that one. It worries me more than the lip repair...

He likes that bottom lip a whole lot more now and spits and slobbers a lot more too!

He was really grumpy as we were waiting for Dr. Beals and right when I took the picture he smiled!

My sweet baby face.

Tough guy!

What do you get when you cross a cleft palate and green beans? A green bead waterfall out the nose! This is what happens likes 80% of the time when I spoon feed him. Makes him very angry and then it just gets worse.

4 week old Hudson and 5 1/2 month old Hudson!