Living Tape Free

Today marks Will's last day of wearing nose stents, after wearing them for 2 months. To some, that may not sound like big news, but for Will, this is the first time in his 7 months of life that he does not need to have some sort of appliance taped to his face. Literally. He got the NAM at 2 weeks old and wore it for 4.5 months, then had his nasal stents fitted 3 weeks post lip and nose repair and has worn them until today. I'm more overcome with emotion than I expected to be - in fact, I even cried when the doctor told us Will was done with them. I guess it's just a huge release. A small part of my joy is selfishly based - it's been a lot of work for me to keep up with all of his taping. But really, the biggest part of my joy is for Will - he can now touch his face without us pulling his hands away in the fears of him pulling off his tape... he doesn't have to have junk constantly taped to his face, constantly itching his poor sensitive and raw skin... and he now can just be a baby, pure and simple. It's a wonderful feeling and one I've waited a long time to feel. Here is a shot of Will today just after removing the nose stents for the last time - what a happy little dude!

 

 

 

For those skeptics, like I had been, who may be wondering if it was really necessary to wear those nasal stents for 2 months... here is a shot of Will at 3 weeks post op the day he got the stents, and today after wearing them for 2 months. It's quite unbelievable and it makes all the hard work worth it. His nose is perfect!! 

And another close up shot from today of his nose and lip repair, for good measure. I've said it before and I'll say it again - Dr. Warren and our entire NYU team is hands down the best out there! I'm just in awe. Speechless really.

 





I also have to add that we started using essential oils on Will's scar in the hopes of reducing the redness and softening the scars, and after using the oils for just over 2 weeks, the redness has been literally melting away and the whole area is softer! It's unbelievable. I was a HUGE skeptic, and now I'm a believer. We're now starting to use the oils for other home remedies (colds, headaches, back pain, dry skin, etc) and I'm loving the fact that we can go a natural route and reduce our reliance on chemicals. Call it voodoo witchcraft if you will (Buddy does), but it works!! Thank you to Dara for introducing me to them!! Here's a shot of Will before we started the oils and then after just 2 weeks using them:

So, Will is doing great and we're free from appointments for the next few months until palate repair around September. And although all of hard work over the past 7 months has been absolutely necessary and completely worth it, I'm now looking forward to enjoying the summer, letting my baby be a baby, and LIVING LIFE TAPE FREE!! Wahooooooo!