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7th October 2007 - three weeks after Natasha's cleft lip operation
27th October 2007 - for Phil and Clare's wedding
4th November 2007 - with 91 year-old, great-grandad Ted:
25th November 2007 - with Grumps at Ruth's 7th birthday:
Our beautiful daughter is sitting up well and supplementing her bottles with an increasing array of vegetable and fruit purees, lovingly prepared by her devoted mummy. She loves having baths, waking up too early, socialising (with anyone), and giggling at herself in the mirror. No crawling off where she doesn't belong and no answering back - what a wonderful age.
Tuesday, the 18th December 2007: the palate operation. Up at 05:00 this morning, (not that we actually slept, mind you), and in hospital just after 06:30. Natasha's cleft palate repair lasted from 08:30 to just after 11:30. There were no complications with the surgery. She has a few bruises from the various clamps employed and some slight swelling around her face. She's connected up like a Christmas tree with a glucose drip, a morphine drip, a heart rate monitor and a blood pressure cuff. Walking around is not an option - we're chained to the bedside.
The worst thing for Tasha is that her drips are bandaged into her thumb-sucking hand making her favourite pasttime impossible. Stubborn as she is, she'd rather suck the bandage than swap hands. Munchkin has had half a bottle of milk, (she usually has four), and a few spoonfuls of mushy stuff. Surprisingly we have had a few signs of those famous dimples and she's been pulling at all her tubes and wires in a mischievous way. Nice nurses deserving a mention include Sophie, Joanna, Natalie and Amy.
Natasha has had the cleft in her soft palate repaired, at the back of her mouth. This is more invasive surgery than her lip repair.
Wednesday evening: we're all home but so tired it hurts. Natasha has had some happy times and some grizzly times. We all need more sleep.
A week after the operation: it's xmas and we're seeing signs of our old Natasha again. We've had some trouble getting her to sleep and she's eating only a fraction of what she was before her operation but things are getting back to normal.
This is our lovely cleft nurse specialist, Sue Butcher, with Natasha, 27th December 2007. Sue has been invaluable in helping us through Natasha's cleft repairs. Thank you very much.
