Kaitlynn and Wyllow’s Story: Share A Smile
“My name is Kaitlynn and I want to tell you about my daughter’s journey. My daughter was born in 2022 with a left-sided unilateral cleft lip and bilateral cleft palate with a left sided gum notch.”
“I would love this to be used to help parents see that it’s ok to be scared and have worries!
I had a very strange pregnancy that started rocky with COVID-19 when I was at 11-weeks.
We decided to have a private scan to find out the gender and was over the moon to find out I was having a baby girl! With all the excitement, I didn’t notice, however my mum watched their faces and they kept going back looking at Wyllow’s lip in the scan.
It was now my NHS 20-week scan, and my step mum and I went along thinking it was just a regular day. Then it turned out to be, at the time, what I felt was the worst day of my life.
The scan took a lot longer than normal, and they kept going back to her face, you could see them pointing. They sat me up and I just knew something was wrong. They told me that Wyllow was going to be born with a cleft lip and potentially cleft palate too.
I fell to the floor. I genuinely thought this was the worst thing ever. I couldn’t help thinking what have I done wrong? Why me? I’m only 19 and this is my first baby.
That was the first stage of finding out – Then came along studying everything I could! I really didn’t know much.
I was allocated a cleft nurse who specialized in young children with clefts who came to the house to tell us all about Wyllows cleft (unilateral cleft lip). She was fantastic and supported myself and Wyllow’s dad all through the pregnancy.
Fast forward (again) and our daughter, Wyllow Martha, was born.
Straight away the nurses had established Wyllow was born with a left-sided unilateral cleft lip and bilateral cleft palate with a left sided gum notch.
For the first 24 hours after she was born, she was tube fed in the special baby ward in Crosshouse. Within that time our cleft nurse came with the specialized cleft bottles and we tried bottle feeding.
Later on that day I came down to see Wyllow and her tube was out and she was bottle feeding and was smashing it! I just knew she was going to fight this journey with everything she had. After spending a good few days establishing her feeding, we got home and got to enjoy her first smile for a good few months.
We met Wyllow’s surgeon who explained everything he was going to do within the surgery. We also met up with genetics team, ENT team and speech and language therapist.
A few months later we got the call to say Wyllow was going to have her first operation on the 11th April 2023. This was so daunting and the fear started to kick in. I remember on the way up to the hospital the tensions were high and I just couldn’t imagine what my beautiful baby was going to go through.
The day came for her forever smile and I took her down for surgery. This was possibly the worst thing ever. Leaving your baby in the hands of people that are amazing, but you can’t help thinking the worst.
Time was passing, clock watching waiting for my baby to come out of surgery and when she did it was a completely different baby. I mentally struggled seeing her. But the surgeons did an amazing job. They took amazing care of her and her surgery went so well. It just took a bit of adjustment. We had to establish feeding again and the healing process was hard.
A few months later and we had Wyllow’s next operation to complete her palate surgery. We experienced the exact same thing, the tensions were high and emotions were everywhere. But as always, she was a champ!
This time the healing process was a little more difficult as Wyllow was eating solid foods and it was really difficult for her when it came to establishing feeding. She didn’t take to the cannulas and unfortunately Wyllow’s vein burst from the fluid build up in her arm. But no challenge was too difficult for Wyllow. After a few days in hospital, she came home to recover and heal. Nothing can phase my girl!
We went back to the hospital a few months later for a checkup and she had healed amazingly. She’s developed so fast and is thriving in life. Saying words that we thought she would really struggle with, and eating my cupboards dry!
No struggle was ever going to get her down. The surgeon has cleared her until she is seven, she will then be ready for her next operation for her gum notch.
Falling pregnant at 19 and having my first child when I was 20 felt like the biggest challenge ever but this made it a little more scary.
Wyllow smashed it, but as a family, we all did. If I can do it, so can anyone!
It may seem like it’s the worst experience, but it just made our daughter have two smiles, and made her just that little more special!
I can’t thank all the staff who supported us at Glasgow Children’s Hospital, CLAPA or her nurses and surgeons anymore. Without them, this journey probably would have been a living hell.
Wyllow is now one year and five months old and smashing life!
Thank you for reading our story.”
