However most of you probably didn't know that the "look" is actually caused by a medical condition! When I was pregnant with Nathan he settled into a comfy spot wedged into my pelvic bone and pretty much stayed there for 9 months! This caused the bones in his skull to form a little funky when he was born. I noticed this right away but was assured by our pediatrician that this would go away as he grew. The problem was little man developed the evil known as colic/reflux. He learned very quickly that if he arched his neck to the left he felt better. Apparently, this position shut off the valve in his tummy that caused the reflux and would provide immediate relief. In the long run this constant position led to torticolis (tightening of the neck muscles on the right side). He also spent a ton of time on his back because I was following "back to sleep"religiously to prevent SIDS. The end result was a completely flattened left side of his head. We later discovered this was known as plagiocephaly.
Positional plagiocephaly (play-gee-oh-seff-a-lee) is the term used to describe a flattened or misshapen head that may result from crowding within the womb or from an infant being placed in the same position (such as on the back) for long periods of time (http://www.nichd.nih.gov/health/topics/positional_plagiocephaly.cfm).
Again, being the resident nurse in the family, I asked the pediatrician about his head being misshapen at his 4 month appointment and was assured he would grow out of it. I didn't love that answer but I didn't want to be "that" mom that second guesses everything. Hind sight being 20/20 I have learned that God instilled that mommy instinct for a reason. Plus, I work with babies every day and have a hypersensitive instinct that I will never again ignore! We decided to pick a new doctor because of many other issues. Dr. B, our new doctor that came highly recommended, immediately noticed the flattened head and that Nathan was only rolling to one side, only playing with toys on one side, and would always turn to look at things on his left side. This concerned him as he was basically developmentally handicapped on his right side. He wrote for a physical therapy consult and thus we started this crazy journey.
Again, being the resident nurse in the family, I asked the pediatrician about his head being misshapen at his 4 month appointment and was assured he would grow out of it. I didn't love that answer but I didn't want to be "that" mom that second guesses everything. Hind sight being 20/20 I have learned that God instilled that mommy instinct for a reason. Plus, I work with babies every day and have a hypersensitive instinct that I will never again ignore! We decided to pick a new doctor because of many other issues. Dr. B, our new doctor that came highly recommended, immediately noticed the flattened head and that Nathan was only rolling to one side, only playing with toys on one side, and would always turn to look at things on his left side. This concerned him as he was basically developmentally handicapped on his right side. He wrote for a physical therapy consult and thus we started this crazy journey.
In September, we took Nate to Team Approach in Spring. (Thanks for the rec Kelly Sherrill!) Sarah is an amazing therapist who showed us some exercises we could do to stretch out the tightness in Nathan's neck. He just loves us pulling on his neck 15+ times a day... She also helped us to understand the serious problems with his development he was having. She showed me how to redirect his play and help him to learn to use his right side. We have now been doing exercises and stretches for over a month and Nathan is making huge strides! We also met with a pediatric cranio-facial surgeon about Nathan's skull development. He prescribed helmet therapy for Nathan.
This is the worst part. Nathan will have to wear a prosthetic helmet 23 hours a day for the next 4 months. The helmet puts pressure on the front left and back right portion of his head, forcing his skull to grow into the "space" left on the front right and back left. This will hopefully round out his head as he grows. Once that is done he should be good to go, as this is mainly a cosmetic detail. However, the wearing of the helmet is supposed to be very uncomfortable/painful the first few weeks as he adjusts to the pressure/presence of the helmet on his poor head, not to mention he is cutting his first installment of teeth, which only adds to little man's discomfort!
We get the helmet on Monday and covet your prayers for us all as we continue down this road. It is not a critical condition, more cosmetic than anything. Still, it is going to be a big adjustment for us all and very uncomfortable for my sweet little boy.
I will say in all of this we are a)thankful to have a team of doctors and therapists that have been so wonderful in helping though this diagnosis. b) thankful that overall we have an amazing, healthy, precious baby boy c) grateful for wonderful friends and family that have been with us every step of the way d) very thrilled that Nathan is making such great progress with therapy and will soon be completely "fixed"!
Please pray that he would adjust well and quickly to the helmet. We are bracing ourselves for lots of crying/sleepless nights! Pray that Nate would be able to continue developing appropriately especially with the added weight and off-balancing helmet. Pray that Ryan and I will be able to be loving and nurturing towards Nathan and to each other. It has already been a very stressful summer/fall figuring all of this out and meeting with various specialists. We will post pictures soon of the dreaded helmet!
-Britt
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