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River

River was born on August 31, 1998 with an incomplete bilateral cleft lip and palate. He had a complete cleft of the soft palate and about 1/2 of his hard palate. He had a cleft of the alveolar ridge on the right side, and just a dent on the left side of the ridge. His pictures are presented to you by his mom, Lisa.

River's newborn picture. He was 8 lbs. 3 oz.

 

Here's River smiling at 5 weeks old. He was happy and healthy and weighed 11 lbs. already! I pumped my breastmilk for 11 months and fed it to him with both the M.J. bottles & Haberman.

This is the day after lip repair. He had surgery at 7 weeks old (October 21, 1998). The surgery took about 2-1/2 hours. His face was very swollen, I barely recognized him. Here he is getting ready to go home from the hospital wearing the hospital issue arm restraints (Yuck!). I ordered the nice ones for his next surgery.

River and mommy, about 6 weeks post-op.

This picture was taken on September 10, 1999 - about a week after River's 1st birthday, 2 weeks before palate surgery...and the SAME day he learned how to walk!

River had palate surgery at almost 13 months old, on September 22, 1999. This picture was taken the day after surgery, when we got home from the hospital. He wasn't very happy! But he had a quick recovery, it was much easier than I had expected!

He went in to surgery underweight, and in the two months after, he gained 4-1/2 pounds! Thank you Pediasure!

Halloween! Doesn't River make a cute skunk?

He is totally recovered from palate surgery, eating everything in sight! This was 5 weeks after palate surgery, and almost exactly a year after lip surgery. Looking good!

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