This is Us

Wife & Girl Mom

We are the Gardell Family!
Cameron, Morgan, Josie & soon to be Olive. Just a stay at home mom with a passion for decorating, creating , & making magic for my littles.

Olive Rose

Our little butterfly baby

As I put tabs on Josie’s new color Bible for Easter, this scripture from Jeremiah landed into my lap.
If you know my theme for Olive’s nursery since the beginning it has been butterflies. The more she grew & the more we learned about her, the more the butterfly became SO much more meaningful.
Lately, seeing a butterfly on things, such as this, gives me peace in knowing she will be okay & will overcome what this life throws at her.
At our 20 week sonogram we learned Olive would have a unilateral cleft lip & palate. The fear swept in quick & I immediately shut down. “How is this possible when you do all of the (right) things?!”
- This was my constant thought.
I didn’t understand what was truly happening & until searching for other moms on social media I felt as if I was so alone in this & in a bit of denial.
“These things aren’t common because I know no one with it” - another common thought I had.
Well, there’s actually many kids that have this, but in our local community the amount does not appear as common. 1 in 700 children are born with a form of cleft.
Thank God for the power to find and connect with other moms all over the country who have dealt with this & have shared their babies journey through it.
Something so scary can now be something more beautiful than I ever imagined possible.
For a while I didn’t think I would share our news about Olive until she was born, but honestly I shouldn’t feel the need to keep it quiet during my pregnancy when it’s about to be a huge part of our lives for the next few years. Also, there is no telling who this may help down the road.
She will be beautiful and perfect to us no matter what.

When I found this scripture, the butterfly instantly caught my eye, as if God needed me to read this.
When I read it I truly felt it hit home.
“Nothing is to hard for you” -Jeremiah 32:17

Honestly this journey seems so hard, especially compared to our life the last four years with Josie. While I’m thankful she paved the way for motherhood for me, it’s hard thinking of the things I did with her that will not be able to be reciprocated with Olive (aka breastfeeding). For someone who struggled so much in the beginning of Josie’s breastfeeding journey & overcame my struggles with it and pushed on for over two years I’m thankful for that time and for what I learned.
I’ve worried about how feeding Olive may be an even bigger challenge than I ever could imagine. We will have to use special bottles and praying that she gets the hang of eating. If not, other routes will be taken.
I’m also easily intimidated by hospitals & all that can come along with surgeries, especially not having gone down this road before. I’ve stressed myself out thinking of how many appointments will be just in her first year of life. I’ve cried over people possibly treating her differently because of how they think she should look. You name it.
But this scripture confirmed, no matter how hard it will be…we can get through it.

We all have a purpose, & I feel as if maybe our purpose through this is to educate more people about it. Especially in our area.
We knew almost nothing about clefts. And what we did were outdated stigmas/statistics.
We never in a million years even thought this could be a possibility… especially after having one child already.

In my childhood I remember hearing having a cleft was associated with smoking, drinking, or drug use etc.

That’s just so not the truth. You can do none of those things and still have a child with cleft.
You can have absolutely no history in your families and still have a child with cleft.
You can eat healthy, work out, etc and still have a child with a cleft.
Not to scare you, but it’s definitely to help you relate to someone who’s going through this journey who feels alone.

I’m thankful for the support we have from our families and friends. Without them this journey would be much harder on us. Olive will have an amazing group of people in her life who love and support her no matter what she faces.

In sharing her journey, I pray maybe people become more compassionate and understanding for children with differences.
Yes a cleft lip & palate can be “fixed”, but it doesn’t take away the fact that we still have a long road ahead.
There are many unknowns until she is born & while I pray for things to be minimal in her case, I can’t expect it to be.
I just pray overall for a healthy little girl 💕

Just as the caterpillar transforms into a butterfly, Olive will bless the world with two smiles. Her first smile & her forever smile 🦋

OH HEY, FOR BEST VIEWING, YOU'LL NEED TO TURN YOUR PHONE