At nine days old — an incredibly young age for a child with both a cleft lip and a cleft palate! — they weaned Tali off the feeding tube

Our twin girls — Tali and Efrat — arrived early, at just 35 weeks. Through the blur after their birth, I heard my husband’s happy voice as he talked to our girls.

“Welcome to the world, little ones! Your abba and ima and big brother are so happy that you’re here!”

And we were thrilled. Yes, I worried about Tali’s cleft. Yes, I worried how we would handle two babies at once. Yes, I worried about Akiva learning to share his parents. But my husband and I had spent ten years waiting for children — and now somehow, incredibly, we had three. Our family was growing and with it, so was our joy.

For several days, most of our family lived in the hospital, as I recuperated from a complicated birth. Efrat was in the regular nursery, and Tali needed extra care in the NICU. Whenever I could manage the pain, the kind staff would help me into a wheelchair and push me to the girls’ rooms. How fragile they looked, housed in their glass castles.

Efrat was growing stronger each day, eating well and packing on the ounces. Tali’s cleft was holding her back, though. Because it took several minutes for her to consume even one drop of formula, she was given an NG tube. The large wires wrapped around her made our little girl seem even smaller.

The NICU staff were incredibly determined. They knew that it would be hard for us to care for Tali at home if she was still on a feeding tube, so they made it their mission to wean her. The nurses used a syringe to drop the milk into her mouth, milliliter by milliliter. They also taught her to suck, slowly teasing her lips with a special baby bottle.

At nine days old — an incredibly young age for a child with both a cleft lip and a cleft palate! — they weaned Tali off the feeding tube.