Hello. New to all this.

[daniellelucille]

My name is Danielle, I am 22 and married to JR who is 27. We have two beautiful children together, Lucas who is 17 months old and Jocelyn who is 1 month old (and crazily enough we planned it that way). We are from Upper Michigan and moved to South Carolina in Februrary 2005. We like it here for the most part, but want to go back north eventually... thinking on Ohio.

Anywho... I had Jocelyn's 1 month appt Tuesday and it went like this:

I will start with the stats:

BIRTH:
Weight: 5 pounds 14 ounces
Length: 18"
Head Circ: 12.25"

1 MONTH:
Weight: 8 pounds 9 ounces
Length: 21.25"
Head Circ: 15.25"

She's growing really well.

She has a slight rash on her face that comes and goes. The doc wants me to put lotion on it 1-2 times a day. He gave it a name of some sort, but I forgot what he said it was. I think it started with an S... I dunno, that's not the important part though.

He didn't seem to think she had reflux, cause she isn't spitting up too much, and a few other reasonings... I forget... He thinks it's colic. I knew it was one of the two. He told me to warm up some regular 7up on the counter to room temp and until it's flat and give her 1oz around her fussy time. He said they give babies sugar for circumcisions and such to soothe them, and he recommended it for the colic. He also said the colic will probably get worse before it gets better too... but the 7up has worked WONDERS for her.

Here's the scary part. I have noticed her head is funny shaped... like not round, but growing front to back, her forehead coming out some... It's not hugely obvious at all, but I brought it up. He felt her bones in her head, was telling me there are like 5 plates in the head and such. Then he felt one and said it felt like it was fused together, when it shouldn't be. He asked if she was breech cause breech babies head's can do that. And she was... but not for that long. Anyways... the pediatrician is making her an appt with a neurosurgeon. He thinks they will need to do surgery to separate those plates so her head can grow right. I asked about the recovery on that and she may need a day or two in the hospital. I can't even believe this.

Jocelyn's appt with the neurosurgeon is on Friday, November 7th @ 1:15pm. The lady at the pediatrician's office said she faxed the records and doctor's notes over and they will get in touch with me if they feel she needs to be in sooner than that. (Which from my appt with the ped Tuesday I would think it would be sooner than that, but I dunno).

Any advice or anything about this would be wonderful. The sutures they are thinking are closed are towards the back of her head. There's a big ridged lump there, and her forehead seems a little further out than normal.

Here's a pic of my baby girl:


And one that you can see her forehead in:

[charliesmummy]

Hiya Danielle welcome to cranio kids, this is a fantastic site & im sure you will get lots of help from the wonderful people here. Your daughter & son are both gorgeous by the way, love the piccy of them both asleep in the car. I can deffinately see your daughters forehead bossing, i would say she has saggital cranio but as im a Metopic mummy myself im sure other mums on these boards will help out. Good luck with your appointment and welcome again x

[Jenny]

Welcome Danielle! Were from Mich too! It sounds like the docs have you on the right path. For most parents, it's tough to even get their dr's to admit there might be something amiss. It's a long hard journey, but you'll find a lot of support here!

[mattricia]

Hi Danielle. Welcome to CK. Your children are adorable. I love the pic of them sleeping in their carseats, all tuckered out. There is definitely something about car rides, isn't there?

I'm sorry that it looks like you're joining the craniojourney, but you've come to a wonderful place for information and emotional support. Your description of Jocelyn's skull sounds exactly like my Jack's at that age, and the following months until he had surgery. Elongated skull, "tall" forehead with bossing, and ridges on the top/back of his head...fusion of the sagittal suture. Also, i see it in her photo.

At Jack's one month check-up, his skull had grown two inches. The nurse measured twice, and the ped came in immediately and remeasured...ours never does that. (I replay that moment often, in my mind. It was our first inkling of anything out-of-the-ordinary...)

Please ask any questions you have. We're here for you.

[Wyatt's Mom]

Welcome to craniokids. Your kids are adorable! I love the picture of them sleeping in the car.

I agree with Tricia, I think your daughter has Sagittal Cranio. Not to worry though, if she does there are a few different surgery options for you and I'm sure she will be just fine.

Try to get in touch with a few sagittal moms on here (I'm sure they will welcome you soon). There are two different surgeries, one is called CVR and is more invasive and is usually done when they are a bit older (like 8-10 months but can be done up to a year I believe) and one is done when they are younger and is less invasive. It is called endoscopic and they wear a helmet after to help with reshaping. Either way the outcome is awesome and your daughter's head will look great after.

So, welcome again. Oh, and you are not crazy. We planned for our kids to be close too. They are 15 months apart. It's all a blur eh? LOL

[Amy K]

Hello and welcome! Your beautiful daughter has sagittal synostosis. You can go to my profile album and view my son's before and after pics as well as surgery pics. This is a tough ride, but our babies come throught it amazingly well!

[amizzle]

hello.

we are also young parents, so i understand how scary this all is.

our son was sagittal and had surgery at 10 weeks old. We chose to do the endoscopic surgery and were THRILLED with the surgery and the results. Our boy is just out of helmet therapy and has a perfectly round head and little itty bitty scars.

hope we can help you through this. feel free to send me a private message anytime.

[daniellelucille]

Just to add 2 more pics I just took:

[Tawnia]

Your daughter is adorable! She definitely looks saggital though :) We have lots of "sadgy" babies on here :)

[Monica]

Oh my, she is beautiful. I've written you in another one of your posts, but I just couldn't help but comment on that sweet sleeping baby!