A mother's intuition...

I'm sure you have heard that a mother's intuition is a very powerful thing.  I had always heard it before becoming a mom, and am a firm believer.  ALWAYS trust your intuition, parents - it is how we learned of Mason's diagnosis.  More on that in a bit...  I should start from the very beginning and will get to the part about intuition and where it plays a role in all this.  

Mason was born on August 10, 2013 at 3:38 in the afternoon.  His delivery was fairly easy, and I was thrilled to be able to have the VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean) that I had dreamed of since learning of our pregnancy with Mason.  He was a healthy 8lbs 1oz, and 20.25 inches long.  We immediately fell in love with our new little man, and began life as a family of 4.  It was clear from the very beginning that he looks just like his daddy.  I couldn't be happier about that - a "mini me" for each of us. :)  

Since Mason looked so much different than Easton, I just assumed his head shape was going to be like Clay's... he even had the cute little "ridge" where his eyebrows are, just like daddy.  I loved that he looked so masculine like daddy.  And what mommy wouldn't want a baby that is just as handsome as the man of her dreams?!  Mason's head had the normal cone head look after delivery.  It went down fast, and started to mold into its shape.  There were a few "lumps", but we assumed that his head was doing the normal vaginal delivery thing, and would shape correctly eventually - after all, we had a c-section baby before.

In the first 2 weeks after Mason's arrival, I didn't think much of his head shape.  I remember a conversation between Clay and me where we came to the conclusion that it would get to a normal shape and that it was probably just from the delivery and him being in the birth canal.  Right after the 2 week mark, I noticed a hard lump on the back of his head.  I had also noticed that his forehead was starting to protrude more - it wasn't the sweet little ridge like daddy's.  I kept my thoughts to myself because I didn't want to bring unwanted attention to my sweet newborn's forehead - for all I knew, that was just a characteristic of his appearance.  At that point, I had a nagging feeling that something wasn't right... I just didn't want to be a hypochondriac and sound like a crazy, worried, sleepy mommy of a newborn.  I just knew something wasn't right.  My intuition was really talking to me.

At his 1 month pediatrician appointment, I was ready to point out the lump and get some reassurance from the doctor that my feelings were wrong and that the lump was just from delivery.  I waited to point it out until the end of the appointment.  The doctor felt it and felt around his head and said that he thought "his suture might have closed a little early", and that he wanted us to see a specialist to be sure.  I honestly didn't get too nervous about this at the actual appointment because I was just feeling relieved that I wasn't making stuff up in my head about the lump.  We were told that the referral would be processed to see the Craniofacial doctor at CHOA (Children's Healthcare of Atlanta) at the Marietta location.  We went on our happy way home after that.

Once home, I had a very uneasy feeling about everything, and my intuition was kicking in once again.  I did what most any person in this technologically advanced day and age would do - I started researching online.  It didn't take long to figure out what Mason's condition was.  The pictures of the baby's heads looked just like Mason's, and it all made sense.  I showed Clay what I had found, and it was very clear to us that Mason has Craniosynostosis.  Of course, Clay didn't want to jump to conclusions, and did his best to talk me out of thinking the worst (sweet, loving husband for trying to calm my worried heart).  That night was a very sleepless night for this mommy.  I wanted to call the pediatrician right away and get the referral process sped up and ask him if this was his suspicion on the diagnosis on our sweet baby boy (all of our research was done after hours).   

I called the doctor's office the second it opened, and requested for the doctor to call me ASAP.  When he called back, I explained my research and asked him if he thought Mason had Craniosynostosis.  He confirmed that was his suspicion.  He promised to speed up the referral process so that we could get the answers and information we longed for.  I hung up the phone and started bawling my eyes out.  Even though his diagnosis hadn't been confirmed by a specialist yet, I knew in my heart that we were facing a huge surgery for our newborn - every parent's worst nightmare.

The referral process is cruel, let me tell you!  Mason's pediatrician had initially told us that we would need to see a Craniofacial specialist.  Upon further research, I found that he actually needed to see a neurosurgeon.  I called the referral person at the office, and she confirmed that we didn't need to see the Craniofacial specialist.  She promised to fax over the referral information to the CHOA neurosurgeon's office right away.  We tried to be patient, but these worried parents just couldn't wait around doing nothing!  I called the neurosurgeon's office, and they had never received the paperwork.  I called back the referral person and relayed that information.  By this time, it was Thursday, and we knew how miserable we would be going through the weekend with no appointment set.  I called the CHOA contact again.  She explained the process to me: paperwork sent in by referring doctor, reviewed by one of the neurosurgeons (they only review new files 1 time per week!), and then the neurosurgeon determines when they want the appointments set for.  I was told during the waiting process, that sometimes it speeds up the process if you have a CT scan prior to the initial visit, so the doctor can confirm the diagnosis.  Upon telling the referral lady at the office that we were open to this, she promised to talk to Mason's doc and call me back.  Thankfully, the doctor agreed with me that we should go ahead and order the CT scan.  We were called on Friday, and we thankfully went into the weekend knowing we would be seen the following week for the CT scan and finally get some answers.

More to come later...