My goal is to raise funds to support the Cleft- Craniofacial Center at UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh. 

My husband and I went into our 20 week ultrasound last December and we remember counting fingers and toes and watching the baby wiggle around. Those first images are always the best, we couldn't wait to see our baby. Our tech was so sweet and was chatting away and then she got quiet.... we asked her what was wrong and she pointed to our babies face and showed us a faint line and said that it was a cleft. 

My heart sank. It wasn't something that was on my radar. I broke down. We called Magee to head in for more testing. Once we heard the baby was completely healthy I started to feel a little better. After the diagnosis I wanted to know the gender of the baby. Our son would be due in May. Our hearts were full of joy to add a boy to our home.  

We had several ultrasounds and met with some of the speciality teams at Magee over the next few months. The ultrasounds can only tell you so much and they doctors said they wouldn't know our full prognosis until our baby was born. It was hard for us not to be able to fully prepare as we didn't know the extent of his cleft. I bought every special bottle that existed and read probably too much but I wanted to make sure I had everything this baby could need. 

We met with Dr. Lossi and his team at Children's during my pregnancy. We were so happy to have such a skilled and well known group right here in Pittsburgh. 

On May 8, 2021, Jake was born. The NICU team swept him away to evaluate him. Jake was born with a unilateral cleft lip. His palate is not involved. Jake latched right away and hasn't stopped eating since:) 

When Jake was a week old we met with the team at Children's to have them take a look at him and figure out what's next. He is scheduled for his forever smile surgery on December 14, 2021.

We are fortunate to have great health insurance to help cover the bills we will incur over the next few months. I am running to help those families who have children like Jake cover some of their costs. 

%100 of the money donated will go to Cleft- Craniofacial Center at UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh. Running to raise $8,000 because Jake was born on the 8th of May.

The 10 miler I am running on November 7th (also my birthday) was my postpartum goal but I wanted it to mean more and as I was running one day I thought about Jake. This run is for him and all the cleft cuties out there.