Today Caitlin is here to share her story of having a baby with a cleft lip and palate. Usually, we talk mostly about the birth in birth story episodes of the podcast, but this episode is a little different. Caitlin reached out because despite it being relatively common, she noticed that I’d never touched upon cleft lip and palate on the podcast before and she wanted to share her experience and help others.

So what is cleft lip and palate? They are congenital conditions that occur during fetal development. An incomplete closure of the lip and/or palate (the roof of the mouth) results in a gap or opening in the affected areas. We don't know exactly what causes cleft lip and palate but fortunately it can usually be treated with surgery. Caitlin shares everything from how she found out (the way the doctor delivered the news was terrible) to the surgeries her baby girl had after birth. I’m so excited to finally be discussing this topic!

In this Episode, You’ll Learn About:

• How she found out about the cleft lip/palate - it was terrible
• How she felt after receiving the news
• What she did to prepare for a baby with these challenges
• Which kind of cleft condition her baby had
• Why she pumped instead of breastfed
• How she predicted that she was going to have a big baby
• How many surgeries her baby has had

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Full website notes: drnicolerankins.com/episode246

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