NAM day 2 - 6 weeks old

After a trying first day amazingly enough we had a typical night. Come 6 am though, Graham was having nothing of the NAM being put back in. I was having nothing of getting out of bed at 6. So out it stayed for an hour while we both caught a few more z's.
Finally it was time to get up and get going. I cleaned the appliance, like I do 3 times a day, replaced his tape and took a close look in his mouth before securing it back in place. Sure enough there was a small red area on his upper right gum. As I replaced the NAM I couldn't help but cry. I know this is for the better, I know in the end it will be worth it but right now I feel responsible for hurting my baby. I feel like I should be protecting him from all this pain but instead I am the one doing it to him. Soon enough he chimed in and we were both a blubbering mess. Fantastic. Here we are supposed to be getting ready to head to Lake Chelan as a family and we are both on the floor crying. Luckily I quickly snapped out of it, realizing that I need to be the strong one here. I need to give him all my energy, it can't be wasted on feeling sorry for myself. He, on the other hand was not so easy to settle. I walked, I swayed, I shushed and nothing worked. I so badly wanted to rip that thing right out of his mouth. But I couldn't. I couldn't just give up when the going got tough. This is about him, not me... Remember! I decided I would make a quick phone call to Children's just to let them know what was going on since we were going to be leaving in a bit for the weekend. Sure enough they wanted to see him.
I packed all three boys in the car and off we went. Dr K got us right in and quickly spotted the problem. After a few adjustments and a pep talk from the orthodontics team, we were off. Graham fell fast asleep on the 5 minute drive home, thank goodness. We packed up the car, picked up Dan and headed out to the lake. Hey, I told Dr. K, if we were going to be miserable this weekend we might as well do it in the sunshine!
Graham, and all the boys, were troopers on the way over. We made it with no stops!
Once there we tried a feeding with the new adjusted NAM and Graham was still resistant. We took it out had a good nursing, a clean diaper, replaced it with only a little fight and he was good to go. Amazingly enough he was not fussing. The whole evening was more of the same. Although I wouldn't classify him as "liking it", he is definitely tolerating it. His fussy times are a bit hard because he will not take his beloved binky with it in. But usually a good swaddle and some bouncing will get us through.
At this point the idea is just to get him used to the device. Because his palate is not involved in the cleft the NAM is doing very little right now. Next week we will add the nasal wire. This will help to mold his left nare into a better shape prior to surgery. This part I am dreading!
On another note, G is 6 weeks old today! He had been getting really good at his smiles until the NAM came along. I am anxious to see those again someday! He is a champion nurser and eats every 3-4 hours like clockwork. He is getting stronger every day and loves to hold his head up and look all around. We have finally graduated to size 1 diapers, and yes, momma cried. He still hates to be put down during the day so in order to get anything done I pack him in the moby or Bjorne and go about my business. Every once in awhile I get lucky and he takes at least 1 good nap in his seat. Overall, he continues to be a relatively easy going baby. For that I am thankful, because Alex is enough if a challenge for me right now!

Snoozing on the way to Lake Chelan.