Cleft story to share

[Christal]

When my daughter, Jamie, was born, it was a shock to us all.
As my husband and his mother were counting fingers and toes and
the medical staff was finishing up with me, my first impression
was...where's her nose? Suddenly everything stopped and the room
got really quiet. Nobody was quite sure what to say. The doctor
looked at her and told us she had cleft lip/palate/gum. Well, the
next day a nurse came into my room with a stack of papers 7
inches thick. It was all photocopies of information she had
gathered the night before regarding my daughter's birth defect!!
I was overwhelmed. The neonatologist tending to my daughter
informed me that they would be moving her to another hospital
that afternoon. As I had preeclampsia, I was to stay at least one
more night in the hospital myself and could not go with my
precious angel. My husband brought our 6 year old son to see his
new sister before she was moved. I tried to prepare him over the
telephone so he would not be frightened. When he got to the
hospital, we placed the baby in his arms and he smiled and said,
"She's beautiful, Mommy." It brought tears to my eyes.
That night, after Jamie had been moved and everyone else had
left, I finally broke down and cried. Why me? Why MY baby? And I
started to read. 5 days after she was born, Jamie had her lip
surgery. The plastic surgeon hadn't even seen her yet until she
reached the operating room!! Dr. Stieg had just arrived from an
out of town meeting and right away decided to do the surgery. I
cannot sing enough praises about him. I have met a parent from my
son's school who also has a daughter with the same exact cleft.
We even have the same surgeon. I found on that day that it is a
small world we live in. She has been my stone. And a few days
after that, a woman moved into my apartment building who was also
born with cleft lip/palate/gum!! Everyone who sees my daughter's
scar on her lip says that if I hadn't told them there was a
defect, they would never had known. It is healing wonderfully.
Jamie is 5 months old now and time for her palate surgery is
rapidly approaching. I get more and more anxious with each new
day. Is there anyone out there that can help me to prepare for
the upcoming event? I know I should have questions ready to ask
our surgeon, but I really cannot think of any. Can anyone make a
few suggestions? Please e-mail me at cullymor@bitstorm.com Also,
if anyone knows of a support group in the Orlando, FL area,
please let me know. Thank you for taking the time to let me share
my experiences. With worried hope, Christal