Some Parenting Stuff

We knew going into this that parenting would be hard. There are so many responsibilities and things to think about, so many decisions to be made. We've been fortunate that Markus has been extremely healthy. I want to document a couple of parenthood moments that we consider minor rites of passage.

A few weeks ago (5/20), Markus had his first fever. Raph came home from work and noticed that Markus' head felt warm. We took his temperature (our first experience with the rectal thermometer and may I just give Raph MAD PROPS for doing the honors...) and then called the doctor's office - the temp was around 101 degrees. It was after hours, so we had to leave a message with the answering service, and the doctor on call got back to us within 20 minutes. We had already determined (and my mom concurred) that he just needed a little baby Tylenol and some rest, but we were glad to speak with the doctor and have that confirmed. She actually said to dose him every 4 hours throughout the night and come in if the fever didn't break the next day. Raph is pretty level-headed about this stuff so he was able to sleep, but I was too nervous to get a good night's sleep. I woke up a million times to check Markus and feel his head for fever. When I wasn't awake and checking the baby, I was dreaming about it! I decided we didn't need to keep dosing Markus after the first time, because his head felt normal again within an hour. Thank God, we weathered our first baby fever unscathed.

One big decision we've made recently is not to take Markus to a cranial specialist. He has positional plagiocephaly, which is a flattening of the head due to his having favored one position over the other while lying down. Markus lay his head to the right about 90% of the time from birth, and as often as we tried to turn it to the left to even it out, he would just turn it back. Before he was able to sit up, we gave him as much tummy time as he would tolerate, several times a day. But newborns spend lots of time on their backs putting pressure on the backs of their heads, and Markus' head now appears misshapen.

Our research shows there is no developmental detriment to allowing the head to grow and fill out naturally, but many doctors recommend that the child be taken to a cranial specialist, who will almost certainly recommend a helmet. We decided not to take this step because we don't want Markus to have to wear a helmet for 23 hours a day, for 3 summer months. Especially considering that this will only speed up the "rounding out" process, which we believe has already begun. Now that Markus sleeps 10 hours a night on his tummy, and plays sitting up most of the day, he is no longer putting pressure on the right side of his head regularly. When he naps, I always make sure to turn his head to the left if it's not already, to make sure that side gets a little pressure. Here's a picture of Markus' head from the top. What do you think?