Going under the knife

For people who have seen the pictures or met Evie, they've noticed that her skull is a rather odd shape -- it kind of resembles a football or a bike helmet.



While that might not be unusual in most cases -- the trip through the birth canal does produce some funky looking heads -- our pediatrician thought it would be a good idea for us to meet with a pediatric neurosurgeon because it looked like one of the sutures in her skull had fused.

Turns out what Evie has is sagittal synostosis, the most common of all premature fusions. Basically the suture running from the front to back has fused and needs to be opened up again.

So on Sept. 25, Evie will be heading to the children's hospital here in Madison to have it reopened and her head reshaped so it doesn't look so much like a football. It's not great news, but the surgeon doing this has a national reputation for being an expert in his field who has done hundreds of these surgeries. I suppose this is one of the perks of living in Madison, the center of some very good researchers.

After the surgery, she'll be in the hospital for a few days. Jeff and I are already planning to be there and luckily, I'll be able to breastfeed her during that time (which will hopefully offer her some small comfort).

I suppose timing of this (if it has to happen) is also fairly good with Jeff's mom here for support. We'll keep everyone posted on what's going on, and really, right now there's not much else to say about it.