Blake's Craniosynostosis Page

Hi, our son Blake Edward Emerick was born on Christmas Day in 1997. A beautiful boy weighing in at 6 lbs. 14 oz. He was born face-up instead of the typical face down, but if you knew Blake, you'd know that he doesn't usually do the expected anyway. Ha! Ha! At birth, we noticed his head had a ridge running down the back of his head and also that his head was very narrow and elongated. After waiting a few days to see if it was just a common molding concern due to birth, he was diagnosed with Saggital Craniosynostosis, which in layman's terms means that he had no soft spot and the plates in his head had prematurely fused together. This condition was not life threatening but could possibly cause some neurological problems if left untreated, but primarily was just a cosmetic problem. We chose to have surgery to correct the problem. But before that, we searched around and found a wonderful cranial-sacral therapist who could move the plates in an infants head gradually through proper placement of her fingers (and a whole lot of training!) There are not a whole lot of people trained in this but I have to tell you that it made a world of difference in his appearance. After only 1 visit, the ridge was completely gone and although the plates were still very stuck together, she was making progress. We saw her 2 times a week up until his surgery date and she almost freed up Blake's suture lines so much that he came close to not needing the surgery at all. Unfortunately, part of his skull refused to budge. But without her help, people would have constantly been staring at our beautiful little boy and wondering why he had a ridge down the back of his head. Blake had his surgery on March 31, 1998 at 3 months old. It was so hard waking him up that morning not knowing what would lay ahead for him. He had the surgery at Providence Hospital in Southfield, Michigan. The surgery didn't take as long as was expected (which I feel was due to the therapy) but a few hours later he was bleeding a bit too much and the doctors went back in to find the cause. They didn't see anything wrong and he was fine after that. We spent 7 days in the hospital, the first two days in ICU. He recovered beautifully from the surgery. He had to leave the staples in his head for only 2 weeks from the date of the surgery. We still see Blake's therapist every few months to keep a check on the plates of his head. Blake's plates did end up being fused again after the surgery, but there doesn't seem to be any cause for concern of any more surgeries. Because Blake didn't have much hair to begin with and still doesn't have a whole lot of it to mention, it took a long time for us not to see his scars on a daily basis. But they are fading along with our heartfelt memories of that period in our lives. His head is still not as round as we had wished for all that our poor angel had been through, but there seems to be no cause for concern.  He is a very bright boy who has had no negative impact from having this condition at all.  In fact, he is at the top of his class even helping other students out and reading and doing math at a few grade levels above him. So many people were affected by Blake's surgery especially because my husband also had saggital craniosynostosis at birth and we are not sure whether this is genetic or not as there is a whole lot of conflicting information on this occurring.  We've had two children since Blake, both girls, who have had no signs of  Craniosynostosis.  We are thankful that our journey with this condition is now over.

Before Surgery This is Blake at 2 months old, just 1 month before surgery

Day 1 It was so hard to see our precious baby all hooked up.

Day 2 My husband Jim had to suction the drool from around Blake's mouth after they removed the ventilator.

Day 2 Blake was pretty swollen at this point.  He weighed 17 lbs in this picture at only 3 months old!

Day 3 The doctors removed the bandage but left a strip of gauze in its place.

Day 5 Blake's grandparents visited him daily in the hospital.  They used staples to close his incision which ran from ear to ear.

Day 1 This is probably the most heartbreaking picture.  They had to put him on a ventilator just in case he swelled so much that he couldn't breathe.  Thankfully, he never really needed it!

Any Questions??????????????????????????????????? Please feel free to e-mail me with any questions/concerns.

Please visit some other children's websites about Craniosynostosis

1-1/2 months after surgery No, they didn't have to shave his head, he's just a baldie!  Blake's scars are beginning to fade. It took a very long time for him to grow enough hair to where we don't notice the scar as much anymore.

10 years after surgery This is Blake's most recent picture.

Thanks so much for visiting our page! Please sign our guestbook. Bye!

Blake has been on a competitive swim team for the last few years and has done remarkable.  The standard swim cap he prefers not to wear due to the pressure on the head but not sure if it is uncomfortable for anyone or just due to his surgery. Keeping his hair buzzed allows for much speculation about his scar but he handles it great and simply informs others about his condition.