Henry's Birth

Henry was born on February 9th, 2010. I went into labor with him around four in the morning. Nick and Bob-Bob came over to watch you, while dad took me to the hospital. Henry was born around 10 in the morning. When he was born, we discovered he had a birth defect called Pierre-Robin Sequence. This meant that he grew funny when he was inside of me. His chin was really small, he had a cleft palate (a hole in the roof of his mouth) and a very small tongue, that was very far back in his mouth. He was taken to the ICU, so they could watch him closely. When he was on his back, he couldn't breathe because he would choke on his tongue. So, he spent 16 days in NICU where he started to grow. About one in 8500 kids are born with Pierre-Robin. It's pretty rare, and a lot of kids need surgery to help their chin grow. But, Henry didn't need surgery on his chin. He would need surgery later to fix his palate, but he grew enough where he could breathe on his own.

 

 Henry couldn't suck because of the hole in his mouth, so he had to use a special bottle to eat.

 Look at his tiny chin. He had a tube up his nose into his stomach to help him get enough food.

 This was the first time you met Henry. You were so small!