We don't know for sure about a virus they could have. They did the amnio on it and it came back negative but 1 of my doctors think it could have been to early to test foR it. And if they r positive for it they could have alot of problems with everything. I'm really hoping the test was correct. These girls already have to go threw alot

Oh ya, I was responding to the post above. :)

So glad to hear that the clefts are just clefts and no other problems Milly!

My daughter was just born with a cleft palate n I couldn't nurse her. I used pigeon nipples for a while but I find that she's better with a reg nipple. It just has to be long. She will be having her surgery when she's 8 months. Most of the time I forget she has it until I put a pacifier in her mouth n it fall out bc she can't suck

Hang in there mom!! It's hard now and it will be hard but hey we are moms!! We are tough, fighters! Just teach those babes how to fight and all will be just fine. You sound like u have a pretty good grasp on things! Good luck!! They will both be gorgeous little girls!

They know for sure baby a has a wide cleft palate because they have seen it in every ultrasound but they aren't 100% sure about baby b but they both have cleft lips. So I know it might be impossible for baby a to nurse and if she is able to latch it might be to much work for her and she wouldn't gain weight like she should. But baby b I'm hoping to nurse if her palate isn't involved. I'm starting to be ok with everything going on but I'm tired of stressing over it when I don't even know what's going on with them till they r here.

Thanks ladies for the support. And they also said that their clefts is just clefts and nothing caused it. Since I did the amniocentesis and everything they checked came back negative so I guess we will see more when they get here. Less than 3 months left

My nephew was born two years ago with cleft lip. And YES you can nurse! It was easier for him to nurse than take a bottle actually. And they tols my sister he had cleft pallet, well they just assume that by how far it goes up. He did not have cleft pallet at all. She worried the last four months about the cleft pallet and he didn't even have it. She went through everything you are. Her dr said cleft lip is a midline issue. It effects the center of the body. But all I can say is take pics before the surgery. She only has a few pictures of him. He got his surgery at 6 months old and you honestly cant tell at all. And he eats and talks just as well as my daughter that is the same age.

You should google all of the actors and actresses that had cleft lip.. you can't even tell! My cousins wife had it when she was born.. I would have never guessed that. These surgeon's are amazing! Your babies will be beautiful, no doubt in my mind.

I know being pregnant it's the last thing you want to hear, but I'm just trying to say its nothing that cant be fixed. You know?

I see it now. I was just surprised because I couldn't imagine milly saying that

Ok, I keep reading mine just to make sure I didn't say anything along the lines of that.

I hope I didn't say anything like that. I already know my girls r going to be beautiful no matter what.

It's getting easier for me to understand what's going on. I found a Facebook group and those ladies have helped me threw alot and I have learned alot from them and what I will be going threw for the next year or so and even longer

Op did not, but pp sort of did.

Who said anything about ugly or brain damaged?

I have no doubt her babies will be beautiful!

I think maybe you responded to the wrong thread.

Please don't be discouraged. It hurts me to hear you talk about your little guy being born ugly and brain damaged. :(

My LO was born with a unilateral cleft lip/palate. There were a few challanges. Learning how to feed with a Haberman bottle was one of them. They were not that expensive. Our cleft lip/palate clinic provided us with ours. He is in no way mentally disabled. And is very healthy and happy. The surgeons can do so much and, honestly no one can even tell he had a cleft lip.

Your LO will have a few surgeries. I think it's harder on us mommas then it is on them. We had one at 3 mths to repair lip and one at 10mths to repair palate. Baby will be fitted for a NAM at @ 3 weeks. Which is like a retainer to bring the gums and palate together. Once the lip is repaired the NAM is usually no longer required.

Good luck to you all. Things look overwhelming now, but the specialists are amazing. Please message me if you need to talk or ask questions. My LO just turned 4 yrs old. He is happy, intelligent and nothing is going to slow him down! He even started riding a 2 wheeler without any training wheels a few months ago

We found out our boy has a unilateral complete cleft lip and palate. It went from just lip. Then to palate. They say it's not in his nose but we doubt they're correct there either. We have elation for about an hour, with him being a boy, but since our world has collapsed. We are very active people and now they're telling us a minimum of 3 surgeries including 2 in his first 12 months then an extra painful surgery around 8 that takes bone from his hip into his mouth. The whole thing from our child being born deformed (ugly), probably unable to breastfeed, have special needs including expensive nipples to having to put him into multiple surgeries makes us sick. I feel guilty for bringing him into this world with so many strikes against him.

I get ultrasounds every 2 weeks for the rest of my pregnancy. And I see my regular ob and a material fetal doctor she she's the one that does the ultrasound.

My husband felt so bad that he left me but we thought the ultrasound was going great so I told him just to go. And I called and talked to him crying on the way home.

I am so sorry :( I truly am. And it's ridiculously painful to go through news like that physically alone since your hubby left early and nobody was there with you or for the ride home.

I wouldn't worry about transfusion syndrome unless you begin seeing a significant size difference. Like my babies due dates were actually different from the very first ultrasound which, obviously isn't possible lol... It seems like your dr is very on top of things whereas out dr was careless and didn't even refer us to a specialist upon finding out we were having twins. The dummy didn't even try to figure out if there was 1 or 2 placentas... The ultrasound before finding out our baby had passed we noticed she was curled up in a ball and not moving but the nurse swore she had a heart beat. I was freaking out till the next ultrasound when we discovered she had passed. To this day dh and I consider pressing charges for medical neglect but it's been so long now and I don't wanna be that kind of a person even though I do still hurt. I know exactly how my princess would of looked

I'm not due for another 4 months so I've got a lot of time to find questions

It's great that you're going to pump :)

I have exclusively pumped and learned a ton along the way, feel free to ask any questions!

I will be pumping and I'm hoping once the palate gets repaired I can try and nurse them. But that usually doesn't happen till 12 months so I don't think they will learn to latch at a year. But they will for sure get breast milk. The day I found out I was a mess my husband had to leave the ultrasound early to go to work, my mom was at home with my son. I cried all the way home. And for 2 days after that. My house has been a mess because I'm not in the mood to do anything. I'm so scared of the twin to twin transfusion. But so far they are growing great

By the way, I've mentioned this a zillion times in here I'm sure but we also had twin girls. We lost one later in the pregnancy due to twin to twin transfusion syndrome. I carried both babies to term and our angel was born first and we had her cremated and then of course there's beautiful brilliant Mikayla.... She's been such a blessing beyond words. Every time I see your posts about your beautiful twin girls I smile for your for the opportunity you're receiving despite the complications with twins and the complications with cleft lip/palate.

First of all, I am so sorry you and your girls are going through this. I don't know much about it but would they be receiving feeding tubes till they are healed from surgery or a particular bottle type? If you wanted to, even though it's a lot of work, you could pump like a crazy woman lol! I really admire your calm attitude about the matter. I'd be going ape s*** . Personally. I don't keep too cool in serious situations. Especially health situations and especially health situations involving my kiddos. I'm always here so feel free to pm me, I'd love to chat with you and feel free to vent. Much love and support to you guys...(((hugs)))