Where's Vivian?

Vivian’s Long Journey

My baby V finally had her tongue & lip ties revised on the 4^th of October. I say finally because even though we’ve only known about them for a few weeks, I know it was the cause of all of our difficulties so far. The problems getting enough milk in the beginning, the horrible gas and reflux, the mucusy/abnormal stools. Things that we saw countless doctors and specialists to try and resolve. The real kicker is that I now know why breastfeeding failed with Stella. She had an upper lip tie that has been detached at some point, and I think a tongue tie as well. It was really hard to find out 6 months in that it was a posterior tongue tie because I had been specifically told she did not have one by an IBCLC. After all the money we’d spent, and all the awful gut wrenching pain my baby had gone through. It was very difficult to come to terms with it. But at some point you have to let go of the “what if”s and just be happy with what you know now. Now I have a real answer, I have pushed enough and we’ve endured enough that we have a cause to this. And more importantly, a solution.

When I saw the lip tie I immediately went online to a breastfeeding group and posted a picture. They referred me to the Tongue Tie FB group. I posted the pics there and they said it looks like an ULT (Upper Lip Tie) and PTT (Posterior Tongue Tie). I also emailed Dr. Kotlow a dentist in NY who is one of the major providers doing laser revision for ties. He said it did appear she had the TT and ULT. The only problem was the closest provider that does laser revisions is in Dayton, OH. I really didn’t give it a second thought at first. She has the ties, I will take her to Dayton to get the ties fixed. The next morning I called his office and made an appointment. Then I started second guessing. Some babies had amazing results but some had no results or were worse off than before. I was truly on the fence and so emotionally exhausted. I decided to have an IBCLC who specializes in tongue ties come and check it out. That way we would be more certain before we drove 2.5 hours away. Ashley came and said it was definitely a tongue and lip tie.

Friday October 4^th 2013 My mom, Vivian and I made the journey to see Dr. Notestein in Dayton, OH. The days prior I was overwhelmed by all the outreach of prayers and thoughts people gave us. I gave Vivian Rescue Remedy and she was great the whole trip there. Everyone in the office was so nice. I was nervous but stayed strong. My mom stayed in the waiting room. We went back and Dr. N asked for our background story and then checked out Vivian’s mouth. He said the ULT was attached in two places and had multiple fibers. He showed me the stretches we would need to do for 4 weeks after the revision to prevent it from reattaching. He also had V suck on his finger and said she was sucking so hard he could lift her up. She had to do that to compensate for her poor latch due to the ties. Dr. N stepped out for a minute and we got Vivian in position. I sat in the dentist chair and she laid up by the place where you’d put your head. The nurse swaddled her and Dr. N sat above her head. They but little goggles on her and I held her hands and her body. It probably took him about a minute and a half to laser both. She was screaming crying while he did it, then when it was over I picked her up really fast. She calmed down quite a bit. Then we went to another room so I could nurse her. Her latch was deeper right away. He went over some more questions and then we were done. She did amazing, she is a real trooper. She was perfect on the way home and really just a little fussier than normal the next couple days. She hated the stretches and cried a lot when I had to do them. But all of a sudden about 5 days after I did the stretches and she didn’t even cry. That was phenomenal. Made my heart so happy.

Before and After:

Stella Sweetheart

Stella has been so sweet lately, well she is always sweet. I just love her so much. I wanted to share a few things she has said/done lately. Yesterday I met her and my dad and Vivian at school when he picked her up. She came up to me and whispered I have a surprise for you. It’s in my shoe! (She didn’t have any pockets) So, I asked what it was and she said, A rock! She had picked it up on the playground and stuck it in her shoe so she could save it for me. It was so wonderful and I love it.

She has been collecting the Wizard of Oz toys in the happy meals for the last week and a half. She loves them and is very interested in watching the movie. Myself and I think my mom told her she might not be old enough to watch the movie yet. I didn’t think she was that worried about it. A couple days ago in the car on the way to school she said, “Mommy I need to talk to you about the Wizard of Oz.” I said, “Yes, Baby?” She said, “I am not going to be scared of it and I don’t know why you won’t let me watch it.” She said it very matter of fact. It was so adorable. I think I am going to let her watch it this weekend, and have popcorn for the first time. J

Then maybe a week ago we were getting ready to leave the house and running late again. I was so frustrated and I was venting out loud. Mostly feeling sorry for myself, “ Blah, blah, blah nobody cares about me.” So, about 5 minutes pass and Stella says, “ Mommy I care about you.” “Always.” It was like melt your heart sweet. I am so blessed to have this amazing girl and I hope I can help her stay so sweet and caring. She is a true joy.