Jason update

Friday Jason saw the cardiologist......for the last time! His VSD is gone! It is perfect timing too because his surgery is one day short of four weeks away. Heart issues make surgeons and anesthesiologists kind of nervous.

Also, he saw the pediatrician yesterday for his four month check-up. It went well. His ears are still perfectly healthy! He is still a little bit, weighing only 11 pounds 8 ounces and measuring shy of 24 inches. That places him way at the bottom of the growth charts, but he is healthy, developmentally normal and growing at a steady pace.

Today we saw Jason's surgeon for a pre-op consultation. That went well too. The surgeon was pleased with the progress he's made with orthodontics, saying that his cleft went from very wide to mild. Yippee!! We now know that the first surgery will repair both the outside and inside of the lip and part of the nose. The gum line and palate will be corrected later - about 9 - 12 months. The first surgery, scheduled for November 6, will be outpatient, taking about 2 hours. He will be encouraged to eat normally immediately after surgery and will likely go home within hours. He will have splints on his arms to restrict elbow movement for ten days so that he cannot disturb the healing surgical site.

He is obviously four months old. He is very fun to watch and play with. He laughs and smiles easily. He likes to play all the normal baby games as well as with toys. He is rolling around and working very hard to scoot. He is teething which is a bit different in a baby with a cleft. He cannot bite down like "normal" babies so he chews on his finger at the back of his mouth. And he DROOLS constantly! Thankfully, he is very verbal. He talks a lot and makes many funny noises. I am very excited about that because I think he will be excited about speech. Perhaps that will prevent some speech problems down the road. These days are fun because four months is just a great age!

I have a video on my camera of him laughing. James and I tried to upload it to my blog without success. I wish I could have put it here for you all to see, but it's not happenin'. However, I thought it was time for another picture. Little guys change so fast...