A couple of hours after his birth Jacob's head began to swell...and swell and swell.
The midwife (the insanely calm one) even let a flicker of worry cross her face as she measured the circumference of the swelling. There are two large masses on Jacob's head, one significantly more so than the other. They are pockets of blood and fluid accumulation on his head resulting from his surprise posterior birth (or being born face up, common in only 5-8% of births...can you tell I have spent some time on google...) and getting stuck on my pelvis. When it continued to swell we were referred to a pediatrician today to have a look at it.
The Doctor said it was one of the worst he has seen.
WHAAAAAT?! Will he have brain damage? Will it stay like this? Does it hurt him? Can it rupture? Will it keep getting bigger? Should we cancel his circumcision appointment? How do we know if it is getting worse? What are the future implications?
Don't cry. Don't cry. Don't cry.
After I calmed down I could hear what the Doctor said...specifically; no, no, no, no, no, no, it will get bigger and buy hats.
Apparently it is mostly cosmetic at this point, he will be sleepy and jaundiced while his body heals and it may look worse before it looks better and could take up to a year for his head to remold. I don't think it will take that long since of course he is a particularly strong and resilient baby (look what he has already been through!) Regardless, we still think he is pretty darn gorgous!
***photos by Verity-Anne Dokter
1 comment:
Payton had a huge cephlahematoma when he was born. His was only on one side (from pushing for 2 1/2 hours and his head being sideways). I was very worried about it (I see them all the time, and it was one of the biggest I had seen). It was so gushy and looked like it had to hurt!It didn't look as bad from a distance because all of his hair covered it up. He was a bit jaundice because of it...but not too bad. His doctor said that occasionally they will calcify and then their skull will grow into it, thats when it takes a year or so to heal. After 4 weeks I was sure that this would be the case with him...then within 2 days it was gone! Hopefully Jacob's does the same!
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