Dylan

Dylan Hayden Ross Bullard/Campbell - Born 4 June 1998 Waikato Hospital, Hamilton

Dylan was born with a bilateral cleft lip and palate. Before Dylan was born we found out at 18 weeks that our baby was going to be born with a cleft lip and palate but we didn’t know how bad it was going to be. We found this out at the scan which was quite good as we were able to get prepared. We were given a blue book and some pamphlets from the hospital which explained all about this condition. (These really need to be updated as it was published about 20 years ago and some of the pictures in it were really bad and made me quite scared!).

I was quite lucky as one of the ladies at work was born with a cleft lip and palate and throughout my pregnancy she told me all about herself and how she and her mother had coped. She kept me positive and strong - a lot of thanks goes out to her.

Throughout my pregnancy I had a lot of personal problems towards the end of my term. I felt so alone and scared until my mother flew up from the South Island to be with me. Dylan was born a week later. He arrived at 7.31am on the 4th June, it was a really good birth with no troubles. When he arrived and the midwife put him in my arms I didn’t even notice his lip, it was his beautiful eyes that I first noticed then his lip and it really wasn’t as bad as I had imagined.

Dylan was transferred to the newborn unit, he was the biggest baby in there as the other babies were preemies. We were there about 5 days until Dylan had mastered his feeding bottles as I was unable to breastfeed. He started on the rosti bottle but then we changed to the chuchu as we all felt a lot more comfortable with it. We went home on the Tuesday, Dylan was doing really well, he only suffered from one ear infection before his first operation which was really good as these babies are meant to get quite a few infections.

From that day on my life was full with trips to the hospital and to the Doctors. We went to the orthodontist and a plate was made for Dylan, every day I had to make up a tape which went across his top lip to help stretch it for the operation.

August 3rd it was off to the hospital to the combined clinic where the surgeon and specialists were there and told us what would be happening in his operation. August 24th off to the hospital again for his pre-op. It was very straight forward, just to sign the consent form and talk to the house surgeon and was again informed about what they would be doing.

August 31st was the big day. Dylan was last fed at 11.30pm the night before and we were to be at the hospital by 7.30am. By 8.30am Dylan was then meant to be on his way to theatre. But unfortunately things had changed as they had done another baby before him and had been delayed, so by the time Dylan was to go down we knew everything on the walls in ward 4 with our eyes shut as we had walked the ward for 7 hours. Dylan was beside himself as he had had nothing to drink for 15 hours - it was really hard for both him and us.

I was allowed to go into the theatre room and put the mask on him to go to sleep, he looked so peaceful, I left in lots of tears. We went home to freshen up, had something to eat then went back up to the hospital to find him recovering in intensive care. He was still quite sleepy and didn’t look too good. He had tubes in his nose, and with the tape and dry blood it looked worse than what it was, he looked like a new baby. About 6 hours later he was transferred to ward 7 where both Dylan and I got settled in for the night. He started drinking the next day and by Wednesday we were able to go home.

He was quite sore for the next few weeks and we had very few smiles. We had several trips to the hospital after that as he had to have tubes in his nose to wear for 24 hours, getting the moulds made was the hardest task.

Things went really well for the next few months and the scars were healing really well. We flew down to the South Island for a month to spend Christmas with my family and caught up with a lot of old friends who were really pleased to meet Dylan. On the flight home we met Jason Gunn and he took time out to play peek-a-boo with Dylan.

Then it was back to the hospital on the 8th February 1999 for his pre-op for the palate repair. February 18th was another big day - we were at the hospital again by 7.30am and Dylan headed into theatre by 11.45am - a lot better than last time. I went home again to freshen up and within an hour and a quarter the Doctor rang to say he was out and all went well. I returned to the hospital and he was again recovering in intensive care and quite sleepy. I had to leave to pick my mother up from the airport, when we returned to the hospital he had woken up and the nurse was trying to give him some boiled water (cooled) but he wasn’t interested.

We transferred up to ward 7 again, that night he began drinking and by the following morning he was back to eating his weetbix slopped up with milk and boiled water. By Saturday the 20th we were back home, he recovered a lot better than I had expected. Within a week he was back to his usual happy and fulfilled life.

We returned to the hospital 2 weeks later and got the good news that we wouldn’t need to come back for another year. When he is about 8 years old they will do another operation and after that I am unsure. I am so proud of my son, he has a lot of strength which has also brushed off on me!

You can contact Marie Campbell, Dylan’s Mum at 52 Kukanui Rd, Chartwell, Hamilton. Ph. 021 217 6274

Marie had a letter published in “Little Treasures” magazine and is keen to make contact and support other parents in the Hamilton region.