Card for parents of baby born with cleft craniofacial condition

For parents receiving the news that their baby will be born with a cleft or craniofacial condition, they are grieving the loss of not having a "perfect" baby, along with fears about the stress of multiple surgeries in their baby's first year.

"It would have been amazing to get a card like this after our sonogram when we learned our baby would be born with a cleft," G. Biello said when sharing the words for this card. "The initial news was the hardest part."

About the Card Contributor

G. Biello shared the words for this card, from her own experience as a mother to a beautiful baby born with a cleft.

Although she initially grieved not having a “perfect” baby, as soon as she held her baby for the first time she only saw how perfectly imperfectly beautiful he was. 

She explains, "That extra-wide smile will always have a place in your heart. Hold it close, wear it like a badge of honor, and know that it’s the beauty of imperfection that makes your baby perfectly themself."

She sends love to other parents babies with craniofacial conditions and says, “Take lots of pictures before surgery. I wish I had more!”

Advice from G. Biello for supporting someone with a baby with craniofacial conditions:

G. Biello says parents of babies born with cleft may need (but might not ask for!) extra help after their baby is born. Feeding babies with craniofacial conditions can be more difficult at first, and babies will need multiple surgeries over the first 14 months.

If you can deliver dinner or help with household tasks, that will help parents be there for their baby during these difficult months.

G. Biello says NOT to say: "I don't even notice [his cleft]!"

She love this quote from Gaspare Tagliacozzi, a cleft surgeon in the 1500's: "We restore, rebuild and make whole those parts which nature hath given, but which fortune has taken away. Not so much that it might delight the eye, but that it might buoy up the spirit, and help the mind of the afflicted." 

Thank you for reading G. Biello's story. We hope it helps you support someone going through something similar.

Product Details

5x7 trifold greeting card with coordinating envelope.

Inside of card is blank for your personal message. A synopsis of the card artist/author's story is printed inside the center panel of the card, visible when card is fully unfolded. 

Heavyweight 88lb paper with linen texture.

All cards are sent next day and always ship FREE.

Designed, printed and sent with love from Portland, Oregon.