February Photos - We are Home

It was so good to be home.  

I thought I would be in mourning for Ultan's first smile but surprisingly I didn't even reach for a picture for many weeks.  I definitely mourned prior to surgery and even for those first hours after surgery.  But, with his first smile or second smile, Ultan is Ultan and he shines through with or without a cleft.

Something I thought might happen but wasn't prepared for was the regressing back to a newborn schedule.  Ultan was born on the 25th percentile and dropped to the 10th percentile after surgery so he worked hard to regain his weight which meant he was getting up every few hours during the night.  And as he is breastfed it meant that I had to pump more.  My motto kept ringing in my head - it is only a phase....  

I tell you now, you can conquer the world on a good nights sleep!

Last day of stitches.  8 days post lip repair

First day of no external stitches. 9 days post lip repair.

  Embarrassing confession:

Ultan's shiny face is a result of my fear of going near the wound hence I didn't clean his face from when we left hospital until we returned to get the external stiches out.  Once I did wash his face, it was rather alarming the amount of my make up that was on his face (obviously hugging the wee fella a little too close to the wound!)

Do know that you can wash your child face after lip repair.  I was just too scared!

I have to say, with the external stitches gone, Ultan did not look nearly as delicate .  He was slowly but surely returning to his normal self.

Shiny face gone.  Here is the little man's big smile :)

I didn't think about the nose repair before surgery and Ultan's nose was a complete surprise to me.  I think Dr Lam Lai Kun did incredible job.