Knox has been growing so quickly and becoming quite the independent little man. We were quite attached to each other for the first two months or so of his life which means that little Knox had developed this almost unreasonable need to be held constantly. Not that I'm complaining; I had been waiting for a little baby who needed me as much as I needed him for many years. However, with the discovery of his own hands we now have a baby who can sit by himself for hours just looking at and sucking on his own fingers.
Last week we took Knox to have his first professional pictures taken. He did so amazing and never cried once - and we were putting him in pretty strange positions. He makes this hilarious expression when he's semi amused with what's going on around him but not necessarily pleased. He raises one eyebrow and just stares at you. So when the photographer tried to get him to smile by making some sort of duck call noise at him and waving flowers in his face he would always make that funny expression. Of course when mom stepped in and starting talking to him or his goofy daddy started dancing as if no one could see him....he delivered great smiles on cue!
We have been doing some at-home physical therapy with Knox for about 2 weeks to stretch his neck muscles. I started noticing that Knox always tilted his head to the left and when I brought it up to the doctor they realized that Knox also has Torticollis which translates to twisted neck. Basically, my womb was not the most comfortable of places for Knox to grow in for the last portion of my pregnancy. Not only was his head in a wedged state that caused enough pressure on his skull for his sagittal suture to close prematurely but his neck was all twisted up as well. Torticollis is easily fixable however so the neck stretches that we have been doing have already shown some improvement in Knox being able to look to his right. At first these stretches were clearly painful for him and he would scream while I cried. It's hard to be the reason you're child is in pain but I knew it was a necessary evil. But now that the tightened neck muscle is being stretched 5 times a day he doesn't seem to be in pain as much as he is annoyed that I'm constantly messing him. Sometimes he cries but most of the time he just lays there and lets me get through it.
The weeks have literally flown by since our last appointment with Dr. Jimenez and now we are preparing for Knox's surgery tomorrow afternoon. I met with the neurosurgical nurse this afternoon to review all the details. We have to check into surgery tomorrow morning at 7am however his surgery isn't scheduled until about noon. Knox is the 4th out of 6 babies being operated on tomorrow. He cannot eat any formula after 2am but can have Pedialyte up until 8am. I imagine those last few hours of sitting in the waiting area with a very hungry baby will be hell for anyone sitting near us.
My mom and brother are on their way from Oklahoma right now. My dad should be coming in late tonight or tomorrow depending on how he's doing since he's feeling a little under the weather...he may not come at all if he's too sick - for Knox's sake. Ken's mom is driving down tomorrow morning from Killeen. We have a lot of support right here and of course tons of support from friends and family who can't make it all the way to San Antonio.
I'm going to continue to post through this experience - the good, the bad, and the ugly. I want to keep people updated on how he's doing from surgery to graduating from helmet therapy but I also want to have this to show Knox someday so he can understand his own story and why he had to wear that funny looking helmet when he was a baby.
I'll update again soon once Knox is out of surgery. Please keep him in your prayers that he has a safe operation and a quick recovery.
Thank you!
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