When Summer was born a little over 4 years ago, more than her gender ended up being a surprise to us. She was born with a bilateral cleft lip and palate. Although that is usually detected during an ultrasound, Summer’s hands were always up by her face/mouth, so we didn’t know. I was grateful for this unknown information, as weird as that sounds. I know I would have stressed about it, researched too much, and likely pushed aside the excitement of having our first baby due to being consumed with learning all I could about this medical condition we would now be faced with. I rarely believe in this motto, but in this case, ignorance was bliss.
Our first days in the hospital after her birth were a little more complicated than usual. We had to set-up several appointments for that first week to begin her surgical journey. Most new babies have one appointment that first week of life (the pediatrician), but Summer had several because she had to meet with her plastic surgeon and other specialists to design a medical plan tailored to her needs.
I’ll never forget sitting in the plastic surgeon’s office and hearing her tell us all that would happen in the next 3 months to prepare her for her first surgery. WHAT? A three month old, MY three month old, would be going through a major transformative surgery in June? That can’t be possible…she’s so little. But, we dove right into the plan and followed the professionals’ guidelines because we soon learned that the earlier it was fixed, the better.
Summer regularly saw her plastic surgeon and pediatric orthodontist (both in Detroit) to ensure she was on track. And by regularly, I mean 3-4 appointments per week (thank goodness for maternity leave, Jordan’s flexibility at work, and a gamma who loved to tag along). The biggest thing we needed to achieve was to get her to 10 pounds, otherwise the surgery would have to be postponed because she wouldn’t be strong enough. Summer also began the taping process which pulls cheek skin over to make the tissue easier to put in place during reconstruction. The effectiveness of this process was unreal, and I’ll admit, we were skeptical at first.
Fast forward to June 28th, 2016. We had just moved into our new house a few days prior (because we didn’t already have enough going on) and packed an overnight bag and headed downtown Detroit to stay the night. “‘Twas the Night Before Surgery” as I call each of these milestones. We decided to stay in a hotel since we had to be to the hospital just after 6am and wanted to make sure Summer had a good night’s sleep. Even though she was only 3 months old, we did our best to keep her routine the same. The hardest part of this was she couldn’t eat beyond midnight. The closer we got to the 8:30am surgery, the more difficult, and painful, this became. (We shared a sigh of relief that morning in the waiting room when our plastic surgeon told another family their surgery was cancelled because they had given their child apple juice a few hours earlier. There are rules and guidelines to be followed for a reason.)
June 29th was surgery day. This day was one of the worst days of our lives. Heartbroken doesn’t even come close to describing how you feel when your baby leaves your arms to go to the operating room for hours and hours. An overwhelming sadness consumed us when we met her in her recovery room after. She was swollen, groggy, tired, and sore. On top of all that, our baby girl looked and sounded different. We hadn’t thought about that, but certain things changed. The tears constantly flowed that day.
But, we got through it. Like we always do, and we always will. Now, we celebrate June 29th every year. The Cleft Community calls it a “Smileversary” and as soon as I heard about it, I fell in love with the concept of honoring that day that gave Summer a second smile to fall in love with.
June 29th will always be nostalgic for us. We had absolutely no clue what was in store for us as we welcomed her into this world, but even without preparation, we knew Summer was perfect. Four years ago, three month old Summer went into surgery very early in the morning to have her nose and lip repaired. What we experienced on her first surgery day is something we will never forget. It’s crazy to think that the scariest day of our lives has turned into something we annually celebrate.
This year has been particularly memorable because she’s been asking us questions about the tape she had for months prior, how her smile changed, and why. She doesn’t flinch when she asks and we do our best to tell her about her journey in a matter-of-fact way, while also educating and celebrating her. We made photo albums to document her medical path and her Smilerversaries. We always look through them on this day. We are excited to have meaningful conversations with her this year, since she understands more. Her smile story is our favorite and we have so many fun things planned today to enjoy our beautiful girl and her special smile.
The Rupkey Roost 