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Hi' I am baby Joel and this is my story.My mommy's labor pains began on Thursday February 1,2007,I was born at 5:40pm on Friday February 2,2007,2 weeks before my due date,my weight was 7.5,my length 20,my head 12-1/2,my eye color dark brown and I have a lot of black hair,they thought I looked like an angel.My mommy noticed my head was misshapen but she did not worried because the birthing process can cause a baby's head to be misshapen,but it will correct gradually,that did not happen with me.At my 2 months checkup my pediatrician told my mommy that an abnormal head shape at this age should be evaluated by a clinician at Cranial Technologies in Clinton CT.My mommy take me to this clinic on April 10 2007,the diagnosis was a condition called plagiocephaly,wich means"oblique or misshapen head".The condition is characterized by a flattening of the back of the baby's head,ear misalignment and eye and other facial asymmetries.These asymmetries can result from premature birth weight,birth trauma,thigtening of a muscle in the neck,sleep position,restrictive uterine enviroment and poor muscle development.It can sometimes be confused with normal birth asymmetries of the head.However,most head asymmetries correct themselves withing the first few weeks of life.My head shape still abnormal after 8 weeks that's why I was a good candidated for DOC band treatment.The DOC Band looked like a sport helmet and is fabricated from a 3-Dimensional model of each individual baby's head.Weighing just 6-oz,it applies mild holding pressures to redirect growth.As the child wears the band,the brain continues to grow,forcing the head to reshape.I am in treatment right now ,I start wearing the band on May 7 2007,23 hours a day,with one hour for bathing and hygiene,my band is carefully monitored every week,my skull growth is checked and correction of the deformity evalueted.They said that a correction can ocurr in 4 to 6 weeks because at my age the skull is maleable and I growth faster.No one prepared my parents for the stares,the questions and the misunderstanding the others."People would come up and ask if I had brain surgery or what happen to my head or they just stares."I am just a baby wearing a helmet"!
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