Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Emily's Head Dr. Appt

I wanted to update everyone on Emily's Dr appt. She went to see a head specialist because her head is very deformed and it just seems to be getting worse. Thankfully my Dr referred us to this wonderful lady in Madison. We went in yesterday and she couldn't stop saying how cute Em was, and of course Em was giving her lots and lots of smiles. She took a lot of pictures and watched Emily on her tummy and her back. She told us that Emily has what is known as Positional Plagiocephaly. It basically means that her head is deformed. What this Dr says is that Emily has a neck muscle that is not working correctly. She assumes this actually started in utero and that it's nothing we did wrong. Which of course made us feel so much better. So because this neck muscle isn't working correctly, it's causing her head to grow very uneven on the one side. Now she even has two small dents in the top front of her head where the plates are running out of room to grow. Her head is getting wider, but not longer. This could cause some major developmental problems for her, so we obviously need to get it fixed. She said the best time to fix the condition is between 4 and 6 months of age. Em is 3 months and 3 weeks now. So what she suggested is we take a month to really work on her neck muscle and see if it changes. If it doesn't change by the time we go back on May 15th, then we need to get her fitted for a helmet. I have attached a picture below that shows what the helmets look like. So we are freaking out...just a little. But we know we have to do what is best for Em. She would have to wear it for about 8 weeks and get it checked every week for fittings.



So we will continue to do her exercises and hope her head gets better. If not, she will still be just as adorable with a helmet on :)

Here is the website with more information if you are interested. These are the people who would be making her helmet for us: http://www.cranialtech.com/
Thanks for all your thoughts everyone.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh good, I am glad it's not surgery. Hey the helmet is cute...and Em will be just as smiley:) Good luck with the exercises. See you tomorrow....Kal

Anonymous said...

Better to catch it now than later! I hope it all works out for the best.

Anonymous said...

I hope the exercises work! And she WILL be just as cute with her little helmet! :)

Cori said...

I think the helmets are adorable and have seen lots of kids wearing them! We are very thankful that there is an easy solution and that no surgery will be required! Can't wait to see you all in just 2 days!

Anonymous said...

I am glad that you were able to get referred to a specialist. I hope they will get the problem solved now. Of course Emily will be still as cute with the helmet on!! Keep me updated, hope all is well.

Anonymous said...

I am so glad that surgery is not needed--we will all be dedicated to those exercises when we have her. She will be a cutie in the helmet, but let's hope that the exercises work!