Another trip to the orthodontist

Well, we took Robert to another orthodontist appointment today for a NAM adjustment. This has become a weekly occurrence since he was fitted for it. Everything is going just fine. We have to make the tape that pulls his lip over needs to be tighter but that's the only change. We have yet another appointment on Monday.

As soon as Robert and I got home Ronnie came over and wanted to make sure his little brother was ok. It's way too cute. Everytime we get home from one of our appointments he needs to make sure Robert's ok. It's nice to see him becoming a wonderful big brother.

That's really the only update for today. Sorry it's not very exciting. Looking at it now it wasn't even worth posting. Oh well.

Here goes nothing.....

Well, I have decided that since there are so many people to keep updated with the latest happenings of the Grant family I would try blogging. The truth is that I thought it would be easier to keep everyone updated about Robert's cleft progress among other things.

For those that don't know Robert was born with a cleft lip and palette. We found out at our 20 week ultrasound and it's been a little busy around here ever since. There has been the fighting with the insurance company (they didn't want to cover a craniofacial team) to meeting with doctors.

Robert has already started treatment. The first step for him was a NAM, nasal alveolar molding. It's a little hard to explain what the NAM looks like but I'll try. It's kind of like a retainer or a denture. It covers the roof of his mouth and is pulling everything together. It has a piece that is pushing his nostril up so both side of his nose will look the same. Then there's the tape.....OH how we hate the tape. There are multiple pieces of tape. There is the "arms" to hold the NAM in place. Then there are the pieces to pull his lip closer together and to flatten it out. The tape has to be changed twice a day and it is by far the worst part of it for us. I was not a believer in the NAM. I thought is was going to be something the insurance wouldn't cover and something that wasn't going to make that much of a difference. The bad news is the insurance didn't cover it. The good news is I was so WRONG. It has made such a big difference. His cleft started at 12 mm and in 3 weeks it was down to 4 mm. I am officially a believer.

The NAM has worked so well we have a date for his first surgery. On July 14th he will be going to Fairfax to have his first surgery. They are going to repair his lip first. There will be many more to go but the first is his lip. I think that about sums up the news on Robert. Can't wait to keep you guys updated.