OHSU

Yesterday we had to drive out to Portland. My son was to see a craniofacial specialist at OHSU because the back left part of his head is kind of flat. It's a long drive out to Portland. The trip takes a good 2 hours. I got up at 5:30 to get the kids bathed and fed (and of course to do the same with me!) and to get everything together. Jen brought along a bag of toys, books and a drawing pad to keep her preoccupied and I packed her lunch box up with a bunch of snacks.

Our appointment was at the Doernbecher Children's Hospital, located on the campus of the Oregon Health Sciences University. The OHSU campus is HUGE!! I mean, gigantic. It's spread out over one side of a mountainous area of Portland. The first time I'd been out there, I made the mistake of looking down and almost screamed. We were REALLY high up on that mountain! But the campus is just gargantuan and so are the buildings. Big, BIG buildings. Jennifer couldn't believe how big they were and kept holding her head back to look up at all of them. I felt like I was in the land of giants!

The specialist who examined Jesse was very nice. Although Jesse cried a lot and didn't really like being examined, she was very patient and very soothing with him. She said what he has is called "positional plagiocephaly." It can happen sometimes in the womb that the baby will rest his head in an area too narrow for full head development. She assured me that it wasn't my fault. (Yes, I DID blame myself for this!)

Anyway, she showed us three things that we can do to help his head shape itself out to normal (though she did say that there was a chance it won't appear so "normal" in the long run). She said that we can do an exercise in which we move his head to the right side, where his chin touches his shoulder, and hold that for 10 seconds then repeat. We do this every time we change his diaper. The second thing is to make sure he sleeps on his right side (not the left where the flattening is at) and keep blankets rolled up against him to prevent him rolling onto his stomach. Have him sleep against the side of his crib to ensure he'll stay on the good side. Finally, we have to give him LOTS of "tummy time" with a blanket rolled up under his arms/chest to strengthen his arm and neck muscles. (His neck tends to get a little stiff and he has trouble turning his head to the right sometimes). We have to do that for 10 weeks. If there is no improvement, then they have a helmet for him to wear to help his head shape out better. (They REALLY want to try to avoid him having to wear the helmet. Babies HATE it. After reading they have to wear it for 23 hours EVERY DAY, I wasn't surprised!)

I am just relieved that it isn't something permanent. That it is something that can be fixed. I am also relieved that we got this before he turned 6 months old. After 6-7 months, what can be done to correct this problem is limited.

Here is more information about it: http://www.cleftline.org/publications/plagiocephaly

We drove through the city on our way out of Portland and it was amazing. They have a tram AND cable cars! One word can describe Portland: "Wow." I saw Portland State University and it is just BEAUTIFUL. I thought Eugene was a college town but Portland is like a "college town on steroids." It's BIG on the universities. There is even a Bible College that is HUGE and it has a screen out front televising information about it.

Here are ALL the pictures I took while in Portland: