You’re the best gift

that we’ve ever received.

Tiny and sweet, it’s hard to believe

that one little baby

could mean so much to us.

You’re the best gift that we’ve ever received.

(Poem adapted from mat on photograph of Jeremiah purchased at Sears Portrait Studio)

Jeremiah was born with a unilateral cleft lip and palate. 

Right:  Jeremiah at 6 weeks old.  He was growing and changing fast.  Many of his photos were made with his tape, but we are very glad now that we made some without the tape. 

Left:  Jeremiah at 5 days old with tape after his first visit to the Craniofacial Clinic.

Center: Jeremiah at 2 weeks old.  We decided to make some photos without tape.

During this 1st surgery he  had a pinned appliance put in his mouth to move his gums closer together, and he had tubes put in both ears.

Jeremiah at 8 weeks old. The day before his 1st surgery we took a whole role of film of him.  His happy smile and bright eyes had already become very special to us.  

Left:  Pinned Appliance.  We used a tiny screwdriver to turn the screw each day.

Left:  One week after Jeremiah’s first surgery he was smiling again.  Feeding was not easy that first post operative week.  He had a very difficult week, but God was good to us, and our bright eyed little boy was getting better.

Right:  Prior to his surgery we tried many different types of bottles, but finally ended up using the Mead Johnson Nurser with the Pigeon nipple system.  This allowed the bottle to collapse instead of the nipple making feeding much easier.