Anybody out there know what it means? I'll give you a hint: it's a big, fancy word for a very common injury:
A bruise.
Who knew, huh?
Anyways, our daughter has a cephalhematoma, meaning some of the blood vessels between her skull and the membrane that covers her skull ruptured during labor. It's on her head, and it was probably caused when she got "stuck" at about seven cm during labor. Basically, this all translates into: our daughter has a great big lump on her head. It's soft and squishy but raised, making her look even more conehead-ish than newborns already do. The bruise should go down within another 4-6 weeks as her blood cycles through.
If you look closely you can see that her head is not round and that there is a bump stretching from over her left eyebrow to over her left ear.
Speaking of blood cycling through, did you know that adults' blood cycles through about every 90 days but that babies' blood cycles through in about six weeks?
As Lane's blood cycles through, the hematoma should go down. The blood will be reabsorbed into her brain, which is totally normal since that's where the blood came from in the first place. However, it will probably leave a very hard spot on her head where it was.
Interesting, no?
She's cute...makes me miss Ava when she was that little.
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