River's Journey, Our sweet boy's cleft story: Surgery for River

Well, River had his lip surgery on August 23rd and it was a big Success! The anticipation of waiting around for surgery this time was not as bad as I had thought. We just went on with our lives and before we knew it, it was time for the real thing. All of us, the girls included were not as emotional as we were on the "dry run". I think We had cried about it all we could, and everyone was at peace with it.
           The surgery lasted about 3.5hrs and they called us every hour to let us know he was doing good.   Dr. Kuang came out to the waiting room after surgery to talk to us and show us pics of River! I have to say I was a little disappointed to see him for the first time from a camera and not in person. I was expecting to have this "moment" when I saw him for the first time and that didn't happen. None the less we were AMAZED at how great he looked! Dr. Kuang did a wonderful job and we can't imagine him looking any better! This just confirms for me that I made the right decision about doctors and procedures, and all the second guessing I did about changing doctors several times, paid off.
      I was told that it would probably take a few weeks for him to be back to his normal self, and that seemed to be true. The first week he slept a lot and was on strong pain meds. He had nasal stents in each nostril to help them keep their form and not collapse. These were sewn in, and had to stay in for a full 3 weeks. We were supposed to keep arm restraints on him so he wouldn't mess with his face. He was such a good baby that we only had him wear them the first couple days. He was getting frustrated and was more at ease and slept better with them off. He actually didn't even touch his face or try to pull at his nasal stents. I had to watch him as far as putting things in his mouth though.
          He is now 3 weeks post op and got his nasal stents out on Friday. This was the final step to seeing his new smile. He is back to his happy self and is just starting to crawl, which is a huge reality check for me! With the girls back at school, I have lost my helpers and have to keep an eye on him constantly. My free time is definitely more scarce these days! He is such a handsome little man, and though I miss his old smile, I love his new smile even better. It feels soo good to have this first surgery behind us. We will be enjoying the Fall with some down time from the many doctor visits, and will get ready for Palate surgery after the holidays in January or February. This next surgery is the big one, and much more extensive than the lip repair.

Waiting to go into surgery