Cleft Lip / Palate Support Group
Cleft is a congenital deformity caused by a failure in facial development during gestation. It can be treated with surgery shortly after birth with highly successful results. Cleft occurs in somewhere between one in 600 and one in 800 births. Cleft occurs in several severities and is divided in two major categories: cleft lip and cleft palate.
Hello everyone,
First, I admire all of you for what you're going through and how good you take it.
In three weeks I'm going to become a mother for the second time and am due with a little girl who has a unileteral cleft lip (Doctor's 99% sure the palate isn't involved).
I'm so nervous, for her and for myself.
I must ask, as selfish as it might sound:
Are your daily life infected by the clefts? If so, do you think it could've been different if your cleft was less severe? cause from what we saw in the U/S the cleft is pretty narrow, doesn't go all the way up to her nose, and the nose in general look cute and normal so I'm wondering if aside from a little scar she won't be effected by it in the long run.
I'm sorry if it's sounds selfish and shallow, trying to find the bright side in these hard times but I promise I would love her unconditionally regardless of how bad her cleft would turn out to be.
She's a lucky girl to have a wonderful mother who no doubt will raise her with plenty of love.. and that alone is going to be enough for her to grow up with unconditional love regardless of her cleft. Now, from personal experience I do wish I didn't have a cleft. My life has been a challenge but luckily I was raised with loving parents and very supportive friends and family. From the sounds of it your daughter will not be affected by severe form of cleft. If it's not connected to the nose then it will not be noticesable. And with advanced technology plastic surgeons fix a cleft lip very remarkably!! If the palate is not affected you will not have to worry about speech problems. I was unfortunately born with unilateral cleft lip and palate. I had a very traumatic childhood only because of all the surgeries I needed and school wasn't easy at all. But somehow I was and still am able to live a life as normal as possible. When I would go to my cleft team doctors at Children's Hospital I would come across other children with severe deformities and when you put a child with a cleft lip compared to children that are mentally and physically impaired you kind of feel blessed in a twisted weird way because a cleft lip is repairable...No matter the outcome of her cleft just know that plastic surgery and cleft lip team have come a long way and your daughter is lucky enough to be able to get the help she needs.