I had a long labor. He was engaged (dropped) the whole time. Of course his head was funny. It was going to go away. I explained that to each physician, and they seemed to take that as the explanation.
My OB came in and said, “Did you feel his soft spots? Look, feel here. They are SO small. That’s why we had a hard time determining his position in the womb and really tell what was going on. We could never really feel them.”
I asked her if she thought something was wrong, and mentioned that everyone kept talking about his head. She told me there was nothing to worry about and that he was beautiful and perfect. She joked about all the different cone heads she had seen - sideways cones, backwards cones, etc. It made me feel better.
We enjoyed our stay in the hospital. Let me rephrase - I enjoyed our stay in the hospital. I was on a natural high thanks to the adrenaline of being a new mom again. To me, that hospital stay is like a vacation where people want and get paid to help us moms out. I mean, what other time in life do we get our own personal staff? We (the new moms) get a bed with a remote control built right in so no one can steal it. It not only changes the TV channel, but props up our feet or our heads - or both if we prefer. :) A masseuse comes in and gives a free 15-minute massage and offers more for a small fee (I totally should have opted more). There is a refreshment room just down the hall - juice, milk, cookies, coffee, water, and it's open 24 hours a day. You can bet I was a regular. Graham crackers and cranberry juice were my midnight snacks every night that weekend. No one expects a new mom to do anything but lie in bed and cuddle the precious burrito that was wiped down and wrapped up just for his momma. No dishes. No laundry. No picking up the toy that she just stubbed her toe on. Just pampering.
And Chris - well, he gets a little stir-crazy lying around for 3 days watching me look at a baby. He enjoys it for a little while, but man when day three rolled around, he was revving to bolt at that door and never return. :)
Much to Chris's delight, we did leave eventually.
The first few days at home were so sweet. Such a special bonding time with the four of us.
I'll never forget how proudly Daniel wheeled around David in his bassinet. Whichever room we were spending time in, we would soon see the wooden corner of David's bassinet peek around the doorway, followed shortly by a little blond with arms extended in order to push his brother into inclusion.
How dear I'll always hold that memory.
I'll never forget how proudly Daniel wheeled around David in his bassinet. Whichever room we were spending time in, we would soon see the wooden corner of David's bassinet peek around the doorway, followed shortly by a little blond with arms extended in order to push his brother into inclusion.
How dear I'll always hold that memory.
"Of course it's going to round out," I answered. "All babies' heads are funny, and they round out perfectly fine."
When David was 5 days old, we went to his weight-check at the pediatrician's office. While we were there, the nurse who was checking him mentioned ... you guessed it: his head. She looked at it from what must have been 98 angles and finally said, “Now, I don’t want you to go home and google this, but it looks like he has something called craniosynostosis. My son had it, and there are many kinds. The kind he had was very mild and didn’t require any treatment.
I brushed it off and chalked it up to what I had all along: I had a long labor and his head was probably sideways for most of it, so that’s all it was. His head was going to round out like every other baby.
That night, I noticed a ridge on the top of his head. I guess I hadn't really felt around his head much, but it was definitely there. Wow. It was definitely there. How had I not felt that? It was a hard, thick ridge of bone that ran from his front soft spot to his back soft spot.
That night and the many nights to follow as we tucked sweet David in to the bassinet by our bed, Chris asked about his head. I answered the same way each time but silently prayed that the ridge that lined his head would soon smooth out.
Three days later, the ridge on his head was still there. I knew that overlaps were supposed to go away in the first 12-48 hours.
I tried to remember that long word she had said. That's right - so I could do exactly what she said not to do: google it.
I did. I saw lots of weird heads, deformed faces, and some images that simultaneously stopped and broke my heart. But there was this one head, this head I kept running across. The shape of that head that was very familiar.
In fact, it looked exactly like David’s head.
(David Two Weeks Old)
It was called Sagittal Craniosynostosis.
David had it. I knew it. No doubts. I knew it. He would have surgery. In the front of my mind, I had hope that he wouldn't need surgery; but slowly boiling in the back of my mind, I always knew he would.
I read a lot that night. Little did I know, I would soon be reading a lot every night. But that night in particular, I learned that craniosynostosis is a condition in which two or more growth plates fuse together prematurely.
You see, when babies are born, the plates in their head are not attached so that they can overlap and fit through the birth canal, and to allow their brain to grow rapidly in the first year of life (2/3 of brain growth happens in the first 12 months!). The gaps where these plates meet is why babies have soft spots.
Babies who have craniosynostosis are born with two or more of their plates (in David's case, running front to back along the top of his head) fused together. The fused line creates a hard ridge along that line (called the sagittal suture) that could not expand and grow normally as the head grows.
So basically, sagittal craniosynostosis babies have heads that are long and skinny when looking down at the top of it and will continue to grow this way unless it is corrected.
Some children will grow with this condition to be absolutely perfect in every way except their unusual head shape, but sometimes (about 20-30% of the time), the odd head shape can create other problems, such as learning disabilities, visual problems, etc. Once it is corrected, however, these risks are gone, and the condition is gone.
Some children will grow with this condition to be absolutely perfect in every way except their unusual head shape, but sometimes (about 20-30% of the time), the odd head shape can create other problems, such as learning disabilities, visual problems, etc. Once it is corrected, however, these risks are gone, and the condition is gone.
The correction, however, requires surgery at a very young age.
I visited our old neighbor, who is a retired pediatrician and taught at the medical schools of University of Missouri at Columbia and Vanderbilt. I pulled up to his house at 9 o'clock at night. I was a scared mom with a new baby - and I was desperate for somebody to tell me there was nothing wrong... Preferably before I had to try to fall asleep.
He looked at 9-day-old David and noticed what I was concerned about. He said it was too early to tell and that it could still round out just fine. He said he didn’t think he’d need to be operated on and that he’d be just fine.
I was so thankful.
I could relax and enjoy my sweet baby.
For a little while any way…
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