When I tell people that my daughter Josephine was born with a cleft palate, many of them respond by saying something along the lines of, “Wow, really??? You can’t even tell!” This is because, when people hear the word “cleft,” they automatically think of cleft lip. But a cleft palate is something totally different (though the two often occur together). Don’t feel bad if you’ve made the same mistake. It’s totally understandable! I don’t think many people even know what a cleft palate is. So I wanted to write this post to break it down for you! Cleft Lip A cleft lip is a gap in the upper lip. According…
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What Is Pierre Robin Sequence? Josie’s Journey, Part 1
Hey everyone! Welcome to my blog! As I mentioned in my previous post, I’ve decided to (re)start my blog in order to share the story of my daughter, and her journey with a rare birth defect called Pierre Robin Sequence. Our Story Josephine was born with Pierre Robin Sequence, or PRS for short. We had no idea this condition even existed until the moment Josie was born. She came out blue due to lack of oxygen, and the doctors and nurses immediately realized that something was very wrong. The on-call neonatologist rushed in to my delivery room. He identified the source of the issue within minutes: Josie had a small…
