The Whisler Life

This morning found us at the pediatrician’s office once again.  Ayden had his four month checkup (even though he’s closer to four and a half months at this point).  The stats are as follows: weight 15lbs on the button [50th percentile], height 25 inches [50th percentile] (he’s grown 3 inches in the past two months), head circumference 43cm [65th percentile], and in otherwise healthy condition.  Being the paranoid parents that we are (we can’t help it), we have been overly concerned about the asymmetrical shape of Ayden’s head.  He has a major preference for leaning his head to the left, and only ever wanting to sleep with his head turned to his right.  As a result, he had developed a somewhat flat spot on the right rear side of his skull and the left side is slightly bulbous.  The pediatrician said it is all within the acceptable limits of "normal"….but, he ordered an x-ray of his neck just to be sure.  So Ayden was subject to the first x-ray of his short existence.  He handled it like a champ.  Two x-rays total and he cooperated for both!  We got to review the films right away and everything checked out fine. [Note: they would have been looking for an extra or partial vertebrae if there were a structural cause to his neck issue.]  It turns out that he has an abnormally tight tendon in his neck which causes him to favor the direction that is easiest.  Cure - visit the physical therapy department at St. Vincent’s Hospital to get that tendon stretched out properly.  Fixing this problem should solve the secondary problem of only wanting to sleep with his head turned to the right.  Ah well, this will all seem trivial by this time next year!  So that’s the latest and greatest on our little one.  Check out some pics from the past week in the new Early November 2005 gallery.  Enjoy!