July 6, 2009
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I did my 18th week gender ultrasound last Wednesday. My OB called me Thursday afternoon and told me seems like my baby has a cleft lip or palate (see below for definition). He quickly described to me the situation and even more quickly told me that is fully repairable soon after birth.
(What Are Cleft Lip and Palate?
Cleft lip and palate are birth defects that happen while a baby is developing in the uterus. During the 6th to 10th week of pregnancy, the bones and tissues of a baby’s upper jaw, nose, and mouth normally come together (fuse) to form the roof of the mouth and the upper lip. If the tissue in the developing mouth and the palate don’t fuse together, a baby could be born with a condition called cleft lip or cleft palate, or both.)
More on cleft lips/cleft palate http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleft_lip
I knew right away what it is when he told me. I felt sad and heartbroken as I listened to him telling me our next step is to do a more thorough ultrasound. It felt weird to me also because for the past week and a half or so, I’ve had thoughts about children with a cleft lip. They say there isn’t a reason why this happens to some babies, it just does.
That day at the ultrasound, the technician had a bit of a hard time getting the image of the baby’s face. It took her more than 5 minutes to capture one image. I’m really hoping there was a glitch on the screen and all this is a mistake. There’s not a moment I haven’t been thinking about this. Some mornings I wake up feeling positive it’s all a misdiagnosis. Then other mornings I doubt the doctor made a mistake. I feel so helpless. And scared.
Our follow up appointment is for this Thursday at 10:00a.m. I’m really hoping they’re going to tell me my baby is fine and I can go home now. I now know what it truly feels like to just wish your baby to be born healthy and what a blessing that really, really is.
I talked with Seb and also one of my closest girlfriend. We all agreed, if anything is to go wrong, this is the best thing that can happen in all the bad things. If it’s just a cleft lip or palate, almost all the time these children can grow up to be normal healthy adults. After correction surgery, most people can’t even tell they had this birth deformity. However, as a mother, I’d much rather not have any birth problems happen to my baby at all. But if I must face something, yes, let it be only this and I will accept it as a blessing itself it wasn’t anything worse.
Comments (4)
Hey Wa,
I’m so sorry to hear you are going through this! Hopefully it is a mistake. In the case it is not, I pray that it is mild and easily fixable. I think we never fully understand the joys and fears of doing something, unless we are doing it. I really really hope things will be ok for you. Big HUGs!
Yue
Regardless of the cleft lip or not, your baby is going to be soooo beautiful. If it really is a cleft, and if you want to get that fixed for your baby, it’s fairly common and easily fixed with minimal cost. I understand your concern though; but on the positive note, the baby at least won’t have major mental issues or something (which is harder to deal with). Physical anomolies are common so don’t worry. Your mommy love and the baby’s gorgeous wonderfulness will fill you with so much love, hopefully all will pass in time. Isn’t it strange how all this worry about life and baby etc snowballs once we become a mommy or soon-2b mommy? : )
Awww, I totally can understand your fears! The thought of any sort of surgery on your baby is terrifying. You have the right approach though, out of all the things that could’ve happened or be diagnosed, Cleft pallet is fixable.
So sorry you are stressed hun! Fingers crossed this is all a big misunderstanding!
@winspark - @Redapple333 - @Elewen - Hey girls, thanks for the reply. I’m crossing my fingers.