Welcome Message

Welcome to my little corner of the internet!  


Hi, I’m McKaela! I’m so glad you’re here, whether you’re family, a friend, or someone who simply stumbled upon this space. This blog is where I share my raw, unfiltered thoughts and feelings as we navigate our journey with a cleft baby. It’s a place where I hope to connect, inform, and maybe even inspire those who are walking a similar path—or simply want to learn more about it.  

You might notice I refer to my baby as "Peanut" throughout my posts. Before we knew his gender or shared the news with others, we called him Peanut—a sweet, simple nickname that stuck and carries so much love and meaning for us.  

This blog is deeply personal, and every word comes straight from my heart. Thank you for taking the time to read, support, and walk this road with us. I hope you find connection, understanding, and maybe even a little hope here.  

Welcome to Peanut’s story and our journey! 

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Popular posts from this blog

The News… 7/3/2024

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On July 3rd, Brendon and I went to the anatomy scan, feeling excited to see our baby boy again. We had gotten a gender check four weeks prior and couldn’t wait to see “Peanut” once more. As we went through the ultrasound, everything seemed to look good—the heart was pumping, the lungs were developing, and he appeared to have ten fingers and toes. The thing about “Peanut” is that he loved to keep his hand in his face and stay turned toward the placenta. When he finally gave in and let us see his two eyes, nose, and mouth, the tech noticed his cleft. She said she couldn’t confirm for sure, but based on what she could see, she was pretty sure he had at least a cleft lip. We left that appointment in shock. I mean, nobody wants to hear that something is different with their baby. But we were thankful that his heart was working, there were no kidney issues, and he had no extra digits! The next step was heading to Maternal Fetal Medicine (MFM) to confirm whether it was a cleft. We waited a fe...
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Let’s talk Clefts

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Brendon and I know people who were born with cleft lips and/or palates, but I truly was in the dark about how and why it happens, how it affects a baby’s day-to-day life, and what surgeries look like. I want to provide education to others who, like us, were at a loss about clefts. A cleft lip is an opening or gap in the upper lip that can range from a small notch to a larger opening that extends into the nose. A cleft palate involves an opening in the roof of the mouth (the palate), which can affect the front (hard palate), the back (soft palate), or both. These conditions can vary in severity and may affect how a baby eats, speaks, and sometimes even breathes. Essentially, it’s a hole or a spot where the tissues didn’t fully join together during development. The hardest part of the diagnosis is that the exact cause isn’t always known. Sometimes it’s connected to a larger issue, like a chromosomal abnormality, but often it’s just an isolated defect. I’ve included an infographic that gi...
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