An Alabama baby born without a nose is perfect in his mother's eyes. The one-month old baby's mother, Brandi McGlathery, did not let Eli's condition get in the way of feeling so proud of her baby.
Parenting.com shared that McGlathery shared that nothing was out of the ordinary during her pregnancy and after 37 weeks, Brandi brought E into the world.
In an interview with ABC News Today, Brandi shared the moments that led to her discovery of her newborn son not having a nose, "The day I delivered, everything went fine. At 4:42 when he was born, he came out and the doctor put him on my chest. When I took a closer look at him, I said, 'He doesn't have a nose,' and they took him out of the room."
Eli has congenital arhinia. This rare condition included symptoms of breathing and feeding difficulties. Additionally, this disorder was the main causative factor of the absence of nose on Eli's face.
Brandi's Obstetrician, Dr. R. Craig Brown said that based from the research studies he conducted by himself, only 38 babies had this facial irregularity condition. As Yahoo! News reported, Brown told ABC News in an interview, "I've seen facial abnormalities, cleft lip and palate, but this is the first time I've seen a case with just no nose."
Aside from not having a nose, there is absolutely nothing else wrong with the baby.
Brandi detailed that her little boy had tracheotomy done at 5 days old to assist in his breathing. She also admitted that the nurses who attended to her baby's needs at the Children's & Women's Hospital's neonatal intensive care unit have grown their fondness for Eli also.
Brandi shared her optimism about raising Eli and giving him a normal life in every way that she could, saying, "I recounted everything I did throughout my pregnancy to figure out if I did something wrong. I realized it was nothing anyone did. I mean, he's perfect. I'm not going to say I was sad. I was just scared for him because I didn't think he'd make it."
MSN News indicated that Eli would need to reach past puberty age before he could have a surgery to reform his nasal passageways. Brandi revealed that she was not planning to have her son undergo any surgery before puberty. While looking at her son fondly as he sleeps in his crib, Eli's mom revealed, "We think he's perfect the way he is. Until the day he wants to have a nose, we don't want to touch him. We have to take it day by day."
