Tate

Today was an emotional day at our house. We spent the morning at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital with our sweet baby Tate having a CT Scan done. Last week we were given some upsetting news when we visited our new pediatrician. The following is a copy of the email we sent out. At the time we had little information to go by and didn't want to alarm anyone or be bombarded with questions, because we didn't really have any answers. In all honesty, right now we don't have any more information or answers and we won't until we get the results back from the CT Scan.

At Tate's well check last week, after checking everything out, the doctor pointed out that Tate's head is somewhat flat on one side of the back of his head. When looking at him the doctor also showed me that his ears are asymmetrical- one of them sits slightly forward on the face in comparison to the other. I've joked about Tate's head shape and blamed my husband for it (as Gabe has one ugly shaped head- he'll even admit it!) The doctor, however, believed there may be more responsible for the shape of his head and referred us to Vanderbilt Children's Hospital for a CT Scan.

Right now, there are three possible causes for his abnormalities. They are as follows:

1. He's just got a funny shaped head. This is obviously our wish, but is not the most likely explanation.

2. Plagiocephaly: He has an odd shaped head that is caused by more of a positional or physiological cause. Since babies are supposed to be laid on their backs to sleep and spend much of the first months of their life laying down or in some sort of a swing or carseat type structure, the soft areas of their skull can flatten out over time. It can also be misshapen while in-utero. If the CT scan reveals that this is the cause of the abnormality, they will form a plastic helmet for his head that will reshape his skull over time. He would need to wear the helmet nonstop for 2-?????? months. It just depends how severe the deformity may be.He may grow out of it, but it will depend on the severity and whether or not the deformity is putting pressure on his brain, causing shifts to his facial features, eye sockets, jaws, etc.

3. Craniosynostosis: This is by far the most upsetting and scary cause. This means basically that the sutures of Tate's head have closed prematurely. Typically the skull of an infant is not fully formed and grown together until about age 2. (Think baby soft spot). If he has craniosynostosis it would mean that the bones in his skull that eventually grow together, had grown together too early causing his head to be malformed. Should this be the diagnosis, he will require surgery which would basically open the skull where it has grown together and they will use plates and screws to help reshape the skull and hold it in place so the brain can develop. The CT will be trying to rule this out. A diagnosis of this could mean developmental delays, seizures, blindness or mental retardation, but if it has been caught early enough the doctors would be able to reshape the skull and we may be able to avoid any damage to his brain.

Of all of the options we are praying for option number one or two for obvious reasons. Right now we are very emotional and I have certainly cried my share of tears today. We are playing the waiting game as of now. The waiting is agonizing and we're trying not to play the "what ifs". I'll share what the Dr told me today. If you're interested in more information, avoid "googling" it. Visit either: www.webmd.com www.mayoclinic.com or www.aap.org/ and type in the conditions. You'll find accurate information and it's as much information as Gabe and I have for now.
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We had the CT Scan today and everything went extremely well. They got him in very quickly, he was given an oral sedative- Pentobarbital- and after rocking him he was asleep in about 10 minutes. The actual CT Scan took less than 2 minutes and I was able to stay with him throughout the entire process. They stimulated him to wake him about 10 minutes after the scans were done. I was able to nurse him and we were discharged about 30 minutes after that. We arrived home at about 11 a.m. and we are back to waiting for the results. The results should be in to the pediatrician in about 24-48 hours. With the weekend just around the corner, unfortunately we may not hear anything until Monday.

We will keep everyone posted once we have results. Please pray for our sweet boy. As I said in the first email we sent out, we pray for God to hold him in the palm of His hand and heal him where he is broken. Pray that we will make the right decisions regarding his treatment. Pray that the Great Physician will guide the hands and minds of the earthly physicians taking care of Tate. We have FAITH that God will get us through this time. Now, enjoy some pictures of Tate from this morning.

Here you can see where his head is misshapen.