The Bass Family: Meet Colby our special boy

A new chapter in our lives officially began on August 19^th. At 9:17am, Colby Jackson Bass entered our world after 39 weeks of pregnancy and 22 hours of labor. He weighed 7lb 5oz and was 20 inches long. I was amazed and excited to see how much hair he was born with. It is light brown, slightly wavy (which is not surprising…most Bass family members have curly hair) and the most beautiful blue eyes thus far. What a blessing we have on our hands.

One thing that will make Colby very special to us is the journey we will take to correct his cleft lip and palate. When we were 29 weeks or so pregnant, we were alerted to the possibility that he might have “something” wrong with his upper lip area. An ultrasound was inconclusive because of his position in the uterus and his hand was in front of his face. We could have proceeded to a higher level ultrasound, however we elected not to continue since it was not something that would change our labor or delivery. Luke and I are both firm believers that everything happens for a reason and this is Gods way of giving us a special gift in the form of a challenge. We realize it will be difficult at times but we also know how much stronger our marriage and family will be after going through this experience.

Cleft lip and/or palate is a very common defect; affecting 1 in 500 births. At one week of age, Colby already had a team of doctors at the University of California San Francisco on his case. At minimum, he will have three surgeries to repair the lip, palate and a bone graft. They begin the lip surgery at 10-12 weeks of age…which is amazing to us. From there, they will repair the palate later in the first year and finally complete a bone graft by a year and a half of age. He will have continued dental work through his early years and the help of a speech pathologist to make sure he is on track. We feel very positive about his treatment and the outcome. Medicine in the 21^st century is amazing!

So for now, we have a healthy, happy (most of the time) baby boy who does all the normal baby things….eats, sleeps, poops and cries which is all we could ever ask for! Enjoy the pictures of our little prince!