Introduction to our family...

We are the Van Dyke family; Matt, Michelle, Adrienne (2.5 years), and Samuel (7.5 months).

During Sam's 6 month well child appointment we were referred to a specialist for his "flat head". While we had asked our pediatrician about it at his 3 month appointment, he had said that we should wait and see if the flatness had gotten worse by his 6 month appointment. At his 6 month appointment there was a noticeable difference in both the head shape, his ears, and one of his eyes "drooping" a little lower than the other. Here are photos from earlier this summer when he was about 4 or 5 months old.

From Summer 2010

You can see that one eye is larger than the other and his ears seem to be very large also. A more recent photo shows how his head has changed quite a bit, with his ears protruding more.

From Fall 2

From Fall 2

From Fall 2

Sam had slept on his back since birth as I was a strong believer in the "back to sleep" campaign. Immediately after his 6 month appointment we began putting him to sleep on his stomach and making sure he didn't spend any time laying on the back of his head. It has been about a month and we have not noticed any difference in the flatness after aggressive repositioning.

The final verdict was that Sam has Brachycephaly with Plagiocephaly and will need a helmet or DOC band to correct it. More information about this can be found here...http://www.cranialtech.com if you're interested. We should be receiving the DOC band either this week or early next week and will begin using it immediately for the next 5 or 6 months with the hopes that it will treat his condition and give him a perfectly rounded head in the end.

Matt and I have spent the past month or so feeling like horrible parents; embarrassed, and wondering what we could have done differently to prevent this. We are coming to terms with the fact that we did the best that we could and knew how to and that it is fixable and doesn't speak to who we are as parents. I like to think of it as a cast for Sam Man's head. We will have it on for a few months and then it will be done. Compared to actual diseases and various other things that could be wrong with my child, this is nothing.

This condition is not harmful to Sam or his brain growth. The helmet will not hurt him and after a few days he will actually get used to it. I have decided to decorate it will decals that I found online at Bling Your Band to help make it a little more fun and less "medical". http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i183/bcforever213/Plagio-SaurusCollage.jpg And here is the link to the website that sells the various decals. http://www.blingyourband.com/

Subsequent posts will detail our adventures with Sam's diagnosis and treatment as well as other fun events that happen in our lives. My goal is to chronicle Sam's treatment in both pictures and blogs so we can look back to see how far he has come.