First Appointment

We took Sam to his first appointment with a skeletal dysplasia specialist at Cedar-Sinai.  They measured him and charted him on a special growth chart for kids with achondroplasia.  He's at about the 65th percentile for both head circumference, weight and height.  The head circumference is something we have to monitor regularly because there's a higher chance to have fluid buildup in the brain (hydrocephalus).  The opening at the bottom of the skull where the spinal cord goes down (foramen magnum) is a lot more narrow in people with achondroplasia so we have to make sure there's no warning signs that his brainstem is being pinched.  She checked his fontanelles, muscle tone, breathing, reflexes, and veins on the forehead and didn't see anything abnormal so she's happy that Sam is doing so well.  She says we may want to get a CT or MRI to assess his brain but CT exposes him to radiation and MRI requires sedation which can be risky so for now we'll just watch him closely.  We asked her about this bump in his back and she said it was a gibbus and fairly common in achon babies.  Once they develop better muscle tone and trunk strength, it should resolve on its own.  She also noticed Sam has torticollis which means his head tends to turn right more than left.  Babies can get this because they're lying on their backs all the time and don't get enough head movement.  She told us to stretch and turn his head side to side everyday and it should go away.  That was pretty much it for his first appointment.  We'll go back when he's four months just to make sure everything is going ok.

He also just got his 2 month vaccines a couple of days ago...poor baby :(  When we got home after his shots, he was in the best mood for some reason so I of course had to take pictures.  I love this little guy.    

I'm two months old!