Entering uncharted territory...for us

It's time for me to bring my faithful readers into the light of what is going on with our family.  Let me back up and say we are all happy and healthy, so please continue reading, without a heavy feeling in your gut in response to my first sentence. :)

Our little Geoffrey Patrick turns 5 months old tomorrow - 5 months!!  I can hardly believe that we are nearly 1/2 way through his first year!  Unbelievable.  He is our handsome little charmer, full of wet, gummy grins, flirtatious giggles, and kissable cheeks.  I've said it before and I'll say it again, I can hardly get enough of this little man - he is a heart breaker! We have been profoundly blessed to have him in our family for 5 glorious months.  There is not a day where we have thought otherwise.

Within the first 2 months of Geoffrey's life, I began to observe the shape of his head, curiously taking note from the bird's-eye-view, the asymmetry I was starting to see.  I pointed it out to Brant, but sort of left it casual, inwardly feeling the emotions warring and bubbling up inside me, anticipating what this could mean.  We kept our observations quiet from everyone, and for awhile, didn't really talk much about it together, hoping it would sort of "work itself out."  At his 2 month appointment, I immediately addressed my observations with Geoffrey's pediatrician.  She was quick to agree with the asymmetrical features his head was displaying, and said that we will want to work on that because "he's a California boy, and we want his sunglasses to fit on his face!" 

Let me pause and explain more in-depth what we were looking at at this point.  The medical term that we quickly became experts on pronouncing is plagiocephaly, which is a fancy way of saying the head is flat.  In our case, his head is flattened on the back/right side of his skull.  This early in an infant's life, their skull is quite malleable and we were given a few ideas on how to aggressively reposition the head, so the weight of his skull, along with the help of gravity, might mold the head shape back in the other direction. 

For two months, we aggressively worked on repositioning that sweet little head, and I mean aggressively.  Every time we would walk past him sleeping with his head turned to the right, we would turn it to the left.  Naps have been, and continue to be, while upright in the front pack baby carrier, or laying on his tummy on my chest, so as not to have any weight on the back side of his head.  Tummy time had its challenges to begin with, and now he is rolling over, so it is not as relevant.   You get the picture.

You may ask, why the big concern?  Is there any internal damage occurring with the growth of his brain?  On the contrary, no.  There is no internal damage going on, however, there are several other external things occurring, which we feel need to urgently be taken care of.  The right side of his face is pushed forward; his right eye is every so slightly drooped, as well as the right side of his mouth.  The right side of his forehead is protruding forward and his right ear is at least one ear length forward to that of his left ear.  Because of the severe asymmetry of his head, he could experience jaw misalignment issues and/or ear infections throughout his life, to name a few.  It is not purely cosmetic.  But, to be honest, we also are looking ahead into his future and do not want there to be any preventable reason for him to be made fun of by his peers.

Come back to one month ago.  We were increasingly aware and concerned that his head shape was not making any improvements.  Some friends of ours went through this exact same scenario with their daughter 4 years ago.  It has been incredibly helpful for us to have people in our lives who have walked in our shoes and experienced the same challenging emotional feelings one is bound to experience with this.  Through their recommendation, we set up a free consultation with a local company in Pasadena, who specializes in cranial remolding.  It was a fantastic meeting, leaving us feeling very informed and ready to move forward with the next step, which is getting Geoffrey fitted for a cranial helmet.  As is true with most complicated medical procedures, insurance had to get involved and it took us another month to get lined up with the correct facility.  God has blessed us tremendously by giving us health insurance that will cover the cost of everything.  We are truly grateful. 

And now we wait.  As it stands today, we are awaiting an appointment to be set for some time in the next 2 weeks for Geoffrey to be fitted for his little helmet.  After the fitting, it will likely take 7-10 days to create the helmet before he has to wear it.  And when I say wear it, I truly mean live in it - 23 out of 24 hours a day, he is required to have it strapped on his little head.  We won't know for sure until we see how well he is progressing, but it looks like he could have the helmet for roughly 3-4 months.  I'll be the first to admit I'm dreading the long, hot summer days, with that helmet on his head the whole time, but we will persevere.  I'm going to keep my eyes on the finish line, knowing that we are doing what is absolutely best for him in the long run.  What a gift we are able to give him, and what a blessing it is something that can be fixed short-term, and not something he has to deal with for the rest of his life.

So, as we move forward into this uncharted territory, we would appreciate your continued prayers and support.  As right as it is for us to be doing all of this, it is still a bit unnerving and emotional for me.  I have such a beautiful, sweet, gentle, content little boy, and I just want him to stay that way, and not let some durable medical equipment get in the way of that.  In the meantime, I will just cherish the moments when Maddie first discovers her baby brother has a helmet on, and she insists on wearing her princess bike helmet out of the house and everywhere we go. :)  You can count on it!