The Not So Yearly Bugle: April 2013

After having consultations at two different places in regards to Hannah's flat head and her need for helmet correction, we decided to go with the Charlotte facility, Cranial Technologies. They were able to start her in it right away and the other place couldn't get us back in to do a second consult until April 26th and then they said they might want to wait to see if her head got any better on its own, which would be nice, but waiting too long with the watch and see approach means that we could lose valuable time. The correction works best when the baby is in the helmet during growth spurts and she is about to reach a critical one, the 4-6 month growth spurt, so we wanted to get her in it as soon as possible to hopefully see results sooner and not have her have to wear it quite so long. So, we went back last Friday to do the official Digital Imaging to get the helmet created and we went back yesterday to get the helmet and get it fitted.

She had some redness when they first put it on (which is expected - her little head has grown in the week since the scan) so they made some adjustments and then she wore it for about three hours after we left. She did great with it last night, but she didn't sleep in it since our appointment was so late in the day and there wasn't much time for her to do the trial wearing prior to bed time. So today, she will be in it every 3-4 hours, then we'll take it off to check for redness and leave it off until the redness disappears (which should be less than 1 hour). As long as the redness disappears, she'll be in it another 3-4 hours, then we'll check for redness. If she doesn't have any lingering redness today, she will wear it to bed tonight. However, if she develops any sores or rashes this weekend, we'll have to go back on Monday to get everything checked out. If she doesn't have any issues this weekend, she'll begin wearing it for 23 hours a day starting Monday. We are able to take it off to work on her torticollis exercises five times a day as well, but mostly she'll wear it all the time except bath time.

We were told that she will be sweating more with it on and that it will keep her on the warm side, so we have to dress her really really light as we enter the warmer days (which are already here). So, if you see my child without pants, it's not because we're bad parents. Haha! She's been eating a bit less lately due to teething so prayers that she'll be able to keep her fluid intake up so she doesn't get dehydrated while she's teething and wearing the helmet would be greatly appreciated.

We don't know how long she'll be in it - it will probably be a week-by-week thing to see how she grows and how quick her head changes shape. We are hoping it'll be less than 12 weeks, but that's the average amount of time, so we'll just wait and see! We'll have to go back at least once every 7 days to do adjustments as she continues to grow (which pretty much means a very long day in the car going to and from Charlotte).

We are able to decorate the helmet after our next appointment, so hopefully we'll be able to "pretty it up" next weekend. We'll see what we end up with - I'm leaning for something "cute" but we'll see if Paul intervenes and she ends up with a Gators or Tron helmet. ;)

Here are some pics since the last update.