My husband and I were married July 9th 2005, we wanted a family right away and ended up conceiving our first child on our honeymoon. We were thrilled to be expecting and the pregnancy was a normal healthy one. I went into labor on April 17th 2006, 8 days past my due date. Labor was hard on me, I had been contracting off and on for days and was already exhausted. Things seemed to be going normally and then all the sudden my labor stalled, I had been in labor for 17 hrs at this time. My mid wife started talking about our options and we ended up consenting to induction, water breaking and an intrathecal. I was upset by this because I wanted an all natural delivery but I was ready for my labor to be over and I wanted to hold my son. They got the pitocin going and were about to break my water when it broke on its own, a short while later they did the intrathecal. Everything after this is kind of a blur to me, I barely remember a lot of it. I remember pushing, I remember my son being born at 12:01 a.m. April 18th after 20 long hours of active labor. I remember holding him but then I go blank. I guess I ended up loosing more blood then normal, getting fourth degree tears, my mid wife had to call in another doctor to stitch me up because she was not able to get it good enough. She later told me I had the worst tearing she had ever seen on a patient.
My son was a healthy 8 lb 5 oz boy, I was over the moon in love him with. My husband and I did notice right away that his head seemed slightly misshapen but they told us it was normal and was probably from the long labor. It was suppose to go away on its own. Well it never did. We would not find out until his three month check up why though. We went in to his check up, our normal doctor was not in so we saw someone else, she was going through the normal questions when she started asking us about his head and his soft spot. She seemed concerned about it and asked us to take him over to xray but would not tell us why, all she would say was that his soft spot was not correct. I was not happy at the idea of my little guy getting an xray but we went ahead with it. No one would tell us why so I went home and looked it up. My research brought me to Craniosynostosis which is the premature closure of sutures. I was devastated but tried not to worry to much until we got his results. Sure enough he was diagnosed with Craniosynostosis and our next step was to get a cat scan so they could see the extent of the closures. After the cat scan we saw a couple different doctors to discuss our options. I did not care for the first doctor so we ended going with doctor number two ( this was the best choice we made, he was amazing ).
Luckily enough for us, Alexzander's Craniosynostosis was a milder form and would only require surgery, some kids need many surgeries and to wear a corrective helmet. He had his corrective surgery, which was the removal of a strip of his skull so his head could form correctly, when he was 4 months old. It was a really hard thing to go through. I cried on the way to the hospital, I cried when they took his blood and I cried when the nurse took my baby. I was an emotional mess during the hours we sat in the waiting room and a nervous wreck until I was able to hold my little man again. He came through the surgery with flying colors, he was a little out of it the rest of the day while we were in the NICU but the next morning he woke up with the biggest smile.
Today you would never know that there was anything wrong with my boy. Besides on a scar on his head there is no lasting affects from his surgery or condition.
Here is with dad right before surgery
Right after
With mom the next day
And today
If you would like to know more about his condition here are some links:
Craniosynostosis
Craniosynostosis
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