Gracie's surgery

The little monkey has to have surgery next week and I hate it. It will be good for her to get it taken care of but the thought of her being in the hospital just turns my stomach.

Here’s a little history: Gracie was born with a cleft palette on the inside (roof) of her mouth. Some people have it on the outside, Gracie has it on the inside. It’s essentially a little hole that leads up to her nasal cavity. I think something like 1 in 700 babies are born this way, which surprised me, but still it’s pretty common.

You wouldn’t know it by looking at her (I can’t see anything past her edible lumpy arms anyways) except she had to have special bottles that you squeeze to help her with suction and stuff used to come out her nose easier than other babies since it’s all sorta open in there. The only time you can see it is when she screams which I’m convinced she never does because she is an angel. (Insert Jennifer & Eric’s comments telling me otherwise).

Think of trying to drink something out of a straw that has a hole in it, that would be annoying right? She really hasn’t had any side effects from it other than breastfeeding was hard and squeezing her bottles can be a pain for her mom and dad. She definitely gained weight like a champ (she looks like a squishy little linebacker in pink) so her eating hasn’t been affected. Basically, she’s 100% perfect in every way and did I ever mention OH MY GOD SHE’S ADORABLE?!?!?!?!?!

But this one little thing just needs cleaned up and she’s good to enroll in Harvard at age 5. However, aren’t we at a technological age where we can just think real hard about fixing stuff and it happens so the little morsel of cute doesn’t have to be in the hospital? Come on. We have Botox and Viagra, right?

Besides the surgery, the very worst part is the fact that she has to wear arm braces for 2-3 weeks after the sugery so she won’t put anything in her mouth. Here’s a mental thought….putting a squirmy, strong, newly mobile little girl in arm braces and expect her to keep her calm, rational temperament and refrain from her favorite game of putting everything in wingspan directly in her mouth? No, I think not. I fear there might be many sleepless nights at the M. household.

I imagine Jennifer will use the next couple of weeks of sheer anguish as a way to get her to clean her room or mow the lawn when she gets old enough. “You know Grace, I had to sit behind a lead wall while you screamed and threw things at us for 3 whole weeks because you couldn’t bend your arms! The least you can do is take out the garbage.”