Squished little head!

While we think Miss Tatem Rose is absolutely perfect, her doctor says otherwise!  When she was first born, the on-call pediatrician at the hospital examined her.  Do you know the first thing he said?  "Well, her head, nose and ears are pretty asymmetrical, but they might even out over time.  If not, you can always get her a helmet."  What?!  We just laughed about his obvious lack of tact and went on with things.  Yes, her head was squished, but aren't most newborn's?

Fast forward to Monday's 2 month appointment.  Tatem's head is still "squished," and it's causing our sweet baby some problems!  Remember how my uterus always measured small?  When I delivered at 40 weeks, it measured at 35 weeks.  Tatem didn't have the room she needed, so her little head grew while it was tilted over to the side.  There's a dent where her shoulder was in her ear.  She's not the only baby who experienced this, and it actually causes a unique set of problems.   We were on info overload this week as we got diagnosis 1,2 and 3!

1.  Tortocollis- Because her head was tilted while she grew in the womb, her muscles are short and tight on one side of her neck and weak on the other.  Her head tilts to one side.  We started physical therapy this week and have a few little exercises that we need to do 6-8 times each day.  She also needs a total of 2 HOURS of tummy time a day!  The good news is that this is correctable, and with the therapy, she should be fine by the time she's walking.

This picture shows what she must have looked like before she was born!  See her little shoulder pushed up there?

It's hard to see the dent now with her pudgy cheeks, but you can see it when she was still skinny!

Of course she can hold her head up now, but when she's relaxed it's always tilted to her right.  It doesn't go to her left side.

2.  Plagiocephaly- It simply means an asymmetrical skull.  Her whole skull (including her face) is shifted.  There are 2 treatments.  Since babies' skulls are not yet hardened, they can still change shape.  We are going to be very careful about not letting her lay one way too much.  Hopefully as her brain grows, it will press on her skull, and it will fix itself.  Our therapist said we are going to try that first, but she will most likely need a helmet to reshape her head.  If she does, you can put all your money on the fact that I'll be decorating it like these DocBand Calendar babies!  :)

Normal Head Shape Mild Plagiocephaly Moderate Plagiocephaly Severe Plagiocephaly

images from here

3.  Eyes that don't work together- Part of the plagiocephaly that she has means one side of her forehead sticks out more than the other.  So one eye is further forward, and they are actually looking at two different things!  We go to a pediatric ophthalmologist next week to see what treatment for that might be.  UPDATE: I am finally posting this today, and we just got back from the opthamologist.  THe good news is that it's a simple muscle problem that makes her eyelid droop, and it should correct itself!  Babies' eyes often don't work together, but the opthamologist said our doctor referred her because of the combination of things that were going on.  We are so thankful for this answer to prayers!!

While no parents want to hear that anything is wrong with their baby, I am thankful that everything is correctable since we caught it so early.

In other news...

Remember how we all prayed for Tatem to GROW before she was born?  At one point she was in the 7th% for weight.  After she was born, she was still in the 10th%.  Not anymore!  At her 2 month check up she weighed 10 lbs, 10oz and was in the 47th% for height and weight!  She's growing like a weed!  Other than the things above, Tatem is a picture of health!  Here are some things I want to remember about my precious 2 month old:
-You are finally wearing 0-3 month clothes!
-You grin and coo all the time.  Every time you coo, Landrie gasps and says, "Oh!!!  Her talked!!"  You love talking to your sister. :)
-You are a great eater and eat 20 min. every 3 hours during the day and every 3-4 hours at night.  Since you've turned two months, you've started stretching your night time feeds a few extra hours.  I am excited! :)
-You still LOVE to be held and snuggled.  You sleep on your tummy with an Angelcare Monitor (it sounds an alarm if you stop breathing) so Mommy and Daddy can get some sleep.  Some nights you sleep in a moving swing all night long!
-We have lots of fun things to put you in, but you really protest if you're in anything other than our arms or the swing. :)
-Your smiles and dimples light up the room and melt our hearts!