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Adalynn had her 4 month check up today with her pediatrician. He said she looks great. She weighed 12 lbs. and 4 oz. (putting her in the 25 percentile....skinny minnie), but was 25 in. long (75 percentile...very long). Everyone says she is going to be tall and even when they measured her during my ultrasounds, her legs always measured a couple of weeks ahead of everything else. Broderick weighed a whopping 19 lbs. and 9 oz at 4 mos. and Camden was right behind him at around 16 lbs. BIG BOYS and now I have a perfect tiny little lady. We are so blessed. Above is a very recent photo of Adalynn. She is now officially 1 month post-op with less than two months to go until her next surgery (when they will repair the palate).
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Well we knew when I was pregnant about Jaron's cleft. We did a lot of research and decided we wanted to go with the NAM. I started out in Atlanta using the NAM. Dr. Granger was new at it I mean really new. Jaron was his 3rd child. So he wasn't very good at it. The NAM is made of acrylic and every week when you go for adjustments it means reshaping this acrylic. He used a dremmel tool and did not smooth edges very well and would send us home with sharp edges and Jaron's mouth would bleed and he would not drink his bottles. So after about a month of that. I decided that I wanted to go to NYU to see the inventors of the NAM and let them do it since they were the experts. I flew to NYU for 17 weeks every monday. Flying up in the morning with Jaron and home that same evening just for a NAM adjustment. They could not correct the damage that Dr. Granger did in Atlanta. He put too much pressure on his front gums, too fast, bending his septum, creating a deviated septum and twisting the gums to the right. So (at NYU) I asked what can we do to fix this? Dr. Grayson the ortho said the surgeon (Dr. Cutting) can do a premaxillary osteotomy. So I said lets meet with him and ask if he will do it. I changed my flight and waited for him to show. He came down and never sat or took off his rain coat. He just said "No I won't do the surgery to fix the gums" (severly twisted sideways) he said it would cause a underbite. He never even looked inside Jaron's mouth. I was MAD, to say the least. But I have to tell you that a month before that he wanted to do an experimental surgery on Jaron's nose and I said no. I think that ticked him off. I saw the only other 2 kids he did it on and they were horrific. So I think that made him mad. So I went to Boston the next week and met Dr. Mulliken. He said (without me saying a word) "We gotta straighten those gums!" I never went back to NYU and Mulliken got Jaron in surgery ASAP. We love him. He is an excellent surgeon and is very detailed at his work. He thinks long term and wants these children to look normal as they grow and change. He measures everything in milimeters and only does craniofacial work on children. No boob jobs and all that. I have heard some plastic surgeons do other things. Mulliken is definately one of a kind and is very humble. He spent 10 hours on Jaron's lip & nose.
ReplyDeletePlease don't get me wrong. I am not comparing your daughter with Jaron by no means. She is adorable. Unilateral and Bilateral children are so different. I never even met the Atlanta surgeon. I just read a lot of medical journals and learned that Mulliken is one of the top 3 in the country. So I just forgot about the bills (for once) and went for it. It is hard to tell the tone of voice my email so I hope none of this comes across wrong. Please email me tcote22@bellsouth.net for any info and more talk.
i studied photography for almost 10 years.. all i have now is a little, tiny cannon elf - which i love! i thought my calling was to take pictures, but it was to do hair! funny about life!
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful girl! If you want a laugh check out the video of the pups with the rest of their litter at the blog.
ReplyDeleteCarolyn