Little N: my baby red

Little N, my baby red, was born on December 5th, 2012, just one day before his big sister's 9th birthday. He weighed exactly one ounce more than Big B, and had even redder hair. He looked perfect, and we sure hoped he would be, after praying the entire pregnancy that he would be okay. After experiencing our two older children's health issues, we hoped that this baby would be just fine.

After he was born, he was having trouble nursing. It seemed like he couldn't latch on and instead made a strange clicking sound. The nurses noticed he had a lot of mucus discharge from his nose and mouth, so they took him out to suction him. Once an hour passed, and then another, I began to get very worried. And then a pair of nurses came in to give us the news: our baby had a bilateral cleft palate.

They took us to the nursery and opened his mouth to show us. And suddenly I knew that this baby would bring a whole new set of challenges to our family, but also many blessings. We look forward to sharing his story and hope those affected by cleft palate can find comfort and understanding through our experiences.