I digress.
Elijah and I had the great pleasure of traveling with my soulmate to NY on Dec 11. And no, it wasn't Nate. You see, my soulmate is my dear friend Christen. I met this Texas jewel my first week of college. We bonded over an incredibly awkward writing professor and through our involvement with Cru. Along with each of our roommates, we were inseparable freshman year. Christen's beautiful mom described Christen and I as soulmates early on and it stuck. Sadly, I didn't take any photos of us together on her trip, so I will give us a flashback where I once had a tan because I didn't live in a cold, (mostly) land-locked state:
Sweet Christen flew up from Texas on the Tues before our Wed appointment. She was excited to meet Elijah for the first time and I was excited to see her adorable baby bump.
I had been watching the weather as I usually do each week in Chicago and NY. Snow was expected during our early morning drive to Chicago so we decided to drive up that night. We met Nate for dinner at his favorite pizza place after he finished work and then got on the road from there. It worked out really well. The hotel was just south of the airport and they had a free shuttle to take us to the terminal the next morning.
On Wednesday, in the waiting room of the clinic before we went back for the appointment, I started chatting with another mom. Her son is 3 or 4 weeks older than Elijah and also has a bilateral cleft lip and palate (most of the other older babies there have a unilateral cleft and the NAM process is different). I noticed her son had his prolabium tape on which we didn't have yet at that point. The prolabium is the little central piece of isolated top lip he has between the two clefts of his lip:
So, I asked the mom how the tape was and she gave it a raving review. I think it went something like this: "It's awful, by far the worst and hardest part of this whole NAM process."
Excellent.
So we went back for our appointment, and Dr. Olson told us we were going to add the prolabium tape that day.
Awesome.
I was thrilled after the earlier review I had heard. However Elijah was in a great mood. This was probably his first appointment where he didn't scream the whole time, rather just when they were messing with his mouth.
They did the normal adjustments and then one of the dental assistants Sandy showed me how to do the tape.
It's so tricky because that piece of lip gets so wet from milk, spit up, snot,and now drool. Plus the nasal stints rub against it, so it comes off easily and so far we pretty much have to replace it every day. The actual tape takes a while to make. I am pretty sure the tape they put on in clinic didn't even make it home that night.
This tape is serving two roles. It stretches out that piece of lip over time so there is more for the surgeon to work with and it helps (along with the nasal stints) to form and stretch the columella. Here is what it looks Iike altogether:
We grabbed lunch after the appointment, headed to LaGuardia, and eventually flew back to Chicago. We had car trouble in northern Indiana when we stopped for gas. My car wouldn't start back up. It's a long story that I won't completely get into. I was so caught up in being distressed that I failed to seek God's help in the moment. But I know others, including my in laws and probably Christen, were praying. God answered and sent a mechanic into that gas station after 8pm that night. He got my car started and we headed back to Indy. Nate drove up and met us part way so that he could follow us home. I am thankful that God provided that night.
But truly God has listened; he has attended to the voice of my prayer. Blessed be God, because he has not rejected my prayer or removed his steadfast love from me! (Psalm 66:19, 20 ESV)
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