180

Day two started off poorly.  Refusal of soft food.  Refusal of all drinks.  I'll save you all the details, but let's just say a staff member not involved in her case suggested we put a tube down her throat to get food in.  Ludicrous.  And when we told the surgeons, their eyes popped out of their heads. There was no way we were putting anything down her nose or mouth when she just received 70ish stitches there. That would compromise the surgery and IV fluids are enough.  It'd only been 24 hours.  Common sense.

You are your child's best advocate.  Don't ever be afraid to speak up or question things.

So, she didn't want to drink.  Who could blame her?!  We knew we'd be in the hospital for one more night anyways. We weren't going to push it.  But, once she was cleared for Motrin, her mood did a 180.  I guess you can't give it on the first day due to bleeding.  Within ten minutes of it kicking in, she ate ice chips and had drops of juice we tapped into her mouth from the tip of a straw.  By the next morning, she'd eaten two boiled eggs and a bowl of oatmeal.  Motrin was the golden ticket.

Friday night, we had visitors!  Thankfully, it was during her great mood.  She loved seeing her brothers.

And Brent wrapped his mother in the curtain.  (We take hospitals so seriously, huh?)

 Where are the kids?

Two nights were expected because of her age.  She is old for this procedure.  Usually, palate repairs are done within the first year.  She's nearly 3.  Her age worked against us in the sense that babies aren't as bothered by the No-No's (since they aren't using their arms as much as a toddler) and are still breast or bottle feeding.  She was old enough to be aware of the restraints, to throw or push a cup away, and actively mobile, not allowing herself to rest.  Two nights were needed for IV fluids and pain management.  They were looking at 3 nights had she not awoken a different child.

Saturday morning, she was jumping in the crib and singing to herself.

  
We were cleared to go home just under the 48 hour mark.
Victory stance.

She's a trooper.  Second major surgery in her 34 months of life.  Her bilateral cleft lip was repaired in China at 14 months old.  It looks beautiful.  Now here, she has a newly constructed roof of her mouth.  Though the palate was what was medically necessary, the lip was done first to get her (and like others) adopted.  Sad, but true.  At the risk of some feeling I am overexposing my daughter, I will share my own iPhone before and after pictures.  If you don't care to see them, don't look.  These are not the ones Brent received, as those were taken during surgery and are more graphic.  

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PG13

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You can see in the before picture how the cleft goes all the way from her front teeth to the back of the mouth, on both sides.  The right (her left) does go all the way through, but is more collapsed.  She is missing teeth, maxillary bone, and gums on either side of her front teeth.  They can't grow because there is not bone or soft tissue to support them.    

They cut the gums from inside her back teeth, pulled the tissue to the middle, and sewed.  Filleting the gum tissue exposed a lot of bone, both her teeth and more so, her jaw. That's the white you see.  Her teeth didn't magically get bigger, they're just more exposed since the gum was removed.  That is what's painful, because bone doesn't like to be exposed.  The tan stuff is new tissue already growing. (Maybe a little oatmeal too.)  Behind her tongue is a triangular piece tightly sewn near the throat that you can't see in this picture.  The gap between her front teeth and this constructed palate will fill in with gum tissue.  Amazing!  

The dental work will require additional surgeries.  Bone graft.  Implants.  Years down the road.  She'll probably go through her elementary years toothless across the front. Brent jokes we can get her a "flipper" like beauty queens do.  

And your second-hand medical lesson for the day has ended.