We first found out about Zayn's cleft at my 20 week anatomy scan, the day before my appointment I had a dream that my unborn baby would be born with a cleft lip, so when we went to the doctor and found out that he in-fact did have a cleft lip we were pretty shocked. The hospital I originally had my first anatomy scan at told us that it was just a cleft lip. I was then sent to a high risk doctor in Ottawa Ontario who performed a ultrasound every 4 weeks to try and see the cleft better. They also checked several other things in the ultrasound to determine if he had any other abnormalities. After several ultrasounds the Ottawa Hospital told us he would also be born with a cleft palate. We were so scared for our baby boy.
We got prepared for Zayn's arrival by researching cleft lips and palates and what we would need to do differently from our first born son.
I was induced at 38 weeks in Ottawa to insure that Zayn would be close to a NICU incase he needed it. When he was born all my worries faded. I remember the first thing I said when they placed him on my chest was "his palate is intact" and we were so happy that he was finally here. He has a gum notch, which means part of his gum is missing. Zayn is now 8 months old and he had his 1st surgery at 6 months (lip repair) and will most likely need a bone graft surgery when he’s s 9 years old to fix his gum. Zayn is such a strong little man and we are all so proud of him.
-Kaley Budarick (Zayn's Mom)