January 9, 2008 Avery Arrived!!!!!

Avery Elizabeth, the much anticipated baby arrived at 1:45 am on Jan 9th, 2008 after an emergency delivery. Thanks to her dad's quick wit and autobahn driving skills a bouncing baby girl arrived healthy weighing in at 6lbs 7oz- our smallest baby yet. She was 4 1/2 weeks early.
Little Avery is the youngest of 4 siblings and is loved to pieces by her two sissy's, Madeline age 7 and Gracie Kate- age 5 and one big brother Hayden- age 6. Avery's Mommy longed for her arrival and just knew she was meant to be. She is the center of her Daddy's heart!

Avery was born with a cleft lip and palate, a condition we knew about before her birth. It was discovered at her 18 week ultrasound.

This site will serve as a virtual scrapbook for Avery and a means to keep all of our wonderful friends and family up to date on Avery's weekly happenings in her medical journey through the first year. We also hope it might someday help another family faced with the same challenge.

We are using an oral prosthesis (the appliance) to help mold Avery's cleft. When Avery was 3 weeks old we began using a process called NAM. Nasal Avelor Molding. It is a device created by an orthodontic surgeon that fits into the baby's mouth that gently guides the gums and palate to essentially move closer together closing the gap of the cleft.
The appliance is a lot like a retainer and fits into her mouth like a denture. Avery sees an orthodontic surgeon once a week at Gillette Children's Hospital for weekly adjustments to her "appliance". This hunk of plastic serves several purposes. It helps her eat better, it guides her gum line to grow together, it assists in shaping her nose and stretching her skin before her surgeries. Avery gets a lot of satisfaction out of this device loves her binki because of it. This process is not flawless and it's time consuming and troublesome at times. The changes in Avery's face has been pretty dramatic and we are happy with the results.

Avery's first surgery will be in two weeks - April 10th 2008 she will have tubes placed in her ears and will have a lip adhesion. The first of 3 surgeries her first year to being correcting her cleft. Avery will be 13 weeks old. The remaining two surgeries will follow in July, and in December.

Children born with clefts face many challenges over the years. We hope and pray Avery will have the best results possible. We feel so blessed to live in an area where there are so many highly talented people who work together to provide excellent outcomes. We cannot thank all of our family, friends, and community members, and our new online friends enough! You all have have reached out in such great support. It has been heart warming to know we have so many people who care so much.

We thank you for visiting our site and keeping Little Avery Cakes in your thoughts and prayers.