My first pregnancy, other than ten weeks of dealing with premature labor, was fairly uneventful. Although he was born almost seven weeks early, he was released to go home eight days after his birth. My second pregnancy was scarier as my daughter was born with a heart murmur and also nearly five weeks early after ten weeks of preterm labor. Again, the baby was sent home from the NICU after only seven days.

My third child was a surprise. He is wonderful, though, and I wouldn't trade him for anything in the world. Twenty weeks into the pregnancy, I had an ultrasound, and he had something called choroid plexus cysts in his brain, which is what is known as a "soft marker" for Edwards Syndrome. When a child is born with Edwards Syndrome, the child does not live for long. Needless to say, it was quite a relief to see that the cysts had dissipated a few weeks later. I thought the worst was over.

He was born just more than five weeks early. He had trouble breathing, and he had a dilated kidney. To the obstetrician's surprise, he was ready to go home at eight days. His kidney dilation corrected itself. He was able to breathe on his own in no time at all, and all appeared to be well. I did notice that he had a bumpier-looking head than the other two.

A couple of months went by. At one point, he had a pretty bad cold, so I took him to the pediatrician, who told me to have him sleep sitting up to avoid ear infections. The only thing I could think of to keep him upright was an extra car seat. All a baby does is eat and sleep at this age, so he spent quite a bit of time in the extra car seat sleeping.

It took weeks for the cold to go away. By the time the cold had gone away, his head had become elongated. It became so elongated that he could not even lay on the back of his head without the help of a pillow we had that was shaped like a dog bone. I didn't know what to do, so I took him back to the doctor. The pediatrician diagnosed him with craniosynostosis of the skull and referred us to a pediatric neurosurgeon a couple of hours away.

Craniosynostosis happens when the fontanelles (soft spots) on a child's head close early. It is also known as a premature fusion of one of the sutures. In our child's case, it was supposedly a premature fusion of the sagittal suture, which was reportedly making his head grow into a football shape. It was very scary. Mostly because the surgery required had to be done right away and was life threatening.

We went to the appointment with a heavy heart. The pediatric neurosurgeon seemed resigned to the fact that the surgery would have to happen. He informed us that he had children of his own, and that he performed one of these surgeries a week. He stated that the surgery involved a certain amount of risk, and he referred us for a cat scan to verify the condition.

By a miracle of God, I was called back by a woman at the place that made the helmets that the children have to wear after the surgery. At this point, I was very upset and worried. The woman put the mother of a child who had had the surgery on the phone to reassure me. The woman told me she had had the surgery done by a different doctor in Naples, and that he was able to do the surgery endoscopically, which is much less invasive than the traditional method.

At her urging, we scheduled a second opinion with the craniofacial plastic surgeon in Naples who had done the surgery on her daughter. We put off the cat scan and went to see him instead. Although the five hour drive seemed to take forever, it is a trip that we will always be relieved that we took.

The first thing Dr. Stelnicki did was a physical examination and measurement of Nicky's head. His first words to us were, "If this were my child, I would not operate. I am not convinced that he has craniosynostosis." He then proceeded to send us for a cat scan to RULE OUT craniosynostosis. At the follow up appointment, we were told that what our son had was positional scaphocephaly, which is when a child's head molds to a surface, such as a car seat. The doctor's words, which will always be a happy memory for us, were "That is just the shape of his head!"

A little old lady at the daycare rubbed his head faithfully every day with baby oil. His head did become rounder, but even at age two, his head was still pretty football-shaped. The pediatrician re-referred us for another appointment with Dr. Stelnicki, but the outcome was the same. Nicholas was fine. We had been given a miracle, no less.

Always, but always, get a second opinion, when surgery may be imminent.