Introducing baby Ike

[toni666]

He's finally here! Our baby boy , Ike, was born on 25th Feb weighing 7.12lb. We knew he had a bilateral cleft lip but were waiting to see if his palate was involved and it is. He's feeding tremendously well though. He had a nasal tube put in in hospital but he didn't need it. We were allowed home after only one nights stay and all is going well. I've been pumping non stop and he's now exclusivley feeding on my breast milk which makes me feel great- I feel like I'm giving him the best start and getting him big and strong ready for his ops. We've already got the dates and his lip surgery will be at Birmingham Childrens on June 4th. But I'm not focusing in that just now, I'm just enjoying my gorgeous little fellow. I feel blessed to have him and extremely lucky to be under the care of the Cleft team here in Brum. The only thing I lack is sleep as Ike likes to party all night and expects his mummy to party along with him- but I know that goes for every new parent out there!

[ozzie]

hi
congratulations on the birth of ike (he was a good weight)
sounds like he is doing really well especially with the feeding.
my daughter had BCLP too but she has struggled to feed so we have to top up her feeding using the nasal feeding tube.
i've heard birmingham hospital is fantastic (we were supposed to go there for claudia's op but due to needing other surgery when she was born we went to alder hey), enjoy every minute of being a mum to ike
congratulations again
natalie

[rfeather]

Fantastic news! Congratulations on the birth of your little boy. It sounds like you're both doing really well!!

Jacob fed really well but we were still in hospital nearly 5 days afetr he was born - although some of that was for me! SO particularly well doneon getting home so quickly!

Ruth

[Fairy D]

many congratulations!

so glad feeding going well, and well done getting out of hospital so quickly.
partying, ummm! not so great but they get over it... supposedily!

daisy xxxx

[Nadine]

Congratulations on the arrival of Ike, Sounds like he is doing so well. Hope everything continues going so well.
My little one is due 2nd April, we have been told they will have a UCLP and we will also be under B'ham Childrens Hospital. Keep us posted on how things go with BCH, if Jo my cleft nurse is anything to go by they sound really nice on the Cleft Team.
Best wishes
Nadine x

[Bex]

Congratulations on the birth of Ike, he was born on my sons 5th birthday! and well done you for expressing for him, i only expressed for 4 weeks for Niamh. We are under the team at BCH and for us they have been fantastic. Niamh was diagnosed with PRS at 2 days old so we didn't meet the team before she was born. Our cleft nurse is Michelle, she is fab and i wouldn't have got through the past 15 months without her, but we have met all of the cleft nurses and they are all great. Miss Slator is Niamh's plastic surgeon and she worked a miracle on repairing Niamh's very wide soft palate cleft and will repair Niamh's hard palate cleft sometime this summer. We were very well prepared for Niamh's op and have been kept well informed about what will happen next. We have found BCH to be well organised and because we live 1 1/2hours away they always make sure we have all our appointments in one day to save us lots of trips up the motorway. I hope you get good care, i'm certain you will.

[Mary+NAJ]

Congratulations and welcome to this world baby boy. Lol Mary

[autism2luv]

congrats on birth of Ike ive got 5 days till i go in to have my little man and getting a bit nervous...hes expected to have ucl on left side and poss palate too hopin to be able to breastfeed or/and pump so well done....we are under addenbrooks cambridge Angie xx

[Mary+NAJ]

Hi Angie

Hope everything goes well in few days time. Just to tell you I'm under Addenbrooke's and my son Joshua who is nearly 9 years was born with uclp and had most of his surgeries. The team is great and you are in a good place. If you can't breast feed you should be able to get the breast pumps from the team and I've heard that they are easy to use. If you need any other infs. or if I can be of any more help just pm. All the best xx Mary

[Jo Dolphin]

Congratulations on the birth of your baby and congratulations on how well his feeding is going,
best wishes Jo

[carolet]

Congratulations xxxx

[Mary+NAJ]

I think I didn't see the picture last time, just to say what a handsome and gorgeous little boy he is, (great picture) and you should be very proud about him feeding so well, WELL DONE LITTLE MAN, , Keep us posted how he is going, xx
Mary

[Elizabeth]

Hi

I'm new to this site, we found out our baby has a bilateral cleft lip and probably palate too a few weeks ago at our 20 week scan. It has been a real rollercoaster getting our heads round the news but the cleft nurse at the Leeds General Infirmary has been fantastic and we are confident the support we will get will be brilliant. Reading posts like yours and seeing your photograph of Ike make us realise that everything is going to be ok, he is gorgeous. I know it is going to be a steep learning curve and would welcome any advice anyone can give in coping during the first few months.

Elizabeth x

[rfeather]

Hi Elizabeth and welcome to the site!

Firstly congratulations on your pregnancy and glad that you have had such good support at Leeds. You can't be too far away from us - we're in Sheffield! We come under the Nottingham cleft team though so will have different nurses and surgeons etc. My son was born 2 and half years ago now with a unliateral cleft lip and palate which like you we found out about at the 20 week scan. He was our first child and we had no preconceived expectations which I think helped. Is this your first child or do have others? Do you know if you are having a boy or a girl? Cleft are more ommon in boys apparently! Are you planning on expressing? I did for 3 to 4 months but it was very hard and I have huge respect to anyone who manages even a few weeks, especially if they have other kids to look after!

Sorry for all the questions, I'm just terribly nosy

Ruth

[Mary+NAJ]

Hi Elizabeth

Welcome to the site and congratulations on your bump . Keep in touch and it's great to hear about excellent support by your cleft team. , xx Mary