I Do My Own Stunts

Knowing that we were headed for some helmet therapy for a while, I had time to do quite a bit of reading online about others' experiences with various types of bands.  One thing that seemed to be common across the board is that people react much better to one if it is decorated.  It makes it look less like a medical device (which it is) and more like a cute accessory.  I could understand how that would be the case, and thought we might as well have a little fun with the wretched thing.  So after much deliberation we chose the "I Do My Own Stunts" decal for Ada's STARband, complete with the cute skull and cross-bones.  It couldn't be more fitting for her because she thinks she is invincible now.  I made the comment to the orthotist in the beginning that at least the helmet might keep her from bumping her head all the time, to which he responded "sure, but you'd better watch her when you take it off."  He was absolutely right about that.  She's not the careful baby Maddie was.  She stresses me out with her constant pulling up on things, and thinking a perfectly acceptable way to get back down is just fall over, full force.  But back to the reason for this post:  the bling.  Here are some pictures in her styling STARband.

Josh applied the letters and the skulls, and then I finished it up with the polka dots, bows and the little rhinestones.  The decals are from blingyourband.com and they were really easy to put on.  Then we sealed it all up with some Mod Podge.  I'm not sure about that stuff, it already seems to be peeling off.  On the plus side, it just peels off like school glue, so it'll be easy to take off if we want.  The decals are vinyl so we can remove those if we want/need to as well.  I think it looks pretty cute.  Ada would make anything look cute.

We haven't been out that much since she started wearing it, for no particular reason, but we were out a bit more this past weekend.  We made a stop by one of the baby stuff stores Friday to get some (super cute) outfits for their spring pictures.  I didn't really notice any funny looks while we were there, but maybe those ladies see enough babies to have seen a STARband before?  However, we went to Red Robin Sunday evening, and I felt my defenses going up a bit.  First, there was a lady trying to secretly take a look, but she looked familiar, so I guess I was kinda staring at her too (trying to figure out who she was).  After a few minutes I realized it was Lee Marshall, from the local news.   Next, the little boy sitting beside us asked "what's wrong with her head?"  I started in, saying "she just has a flat spot we're trying to fix," but with the awful head cold I've got, my voice was almost gone.  His grandmother was clearly embarrassed that he'd asked and told him it was to protect her from hurting herself.  But she was wrong, and I hated that I couldn't correct her over the noise in there.  Maybe I should just make some flyers to pass out to people?  None of this phased Ada, by the way.  What baby doesn't love attention?  She got to sit in a big girl high chair, have her peaches, and take it all in.

As far as progress goes, it's been just over 2 weeks, but it seems like at least 2 months.  I think that's mostly because we've had to take her back for adjustments every few days.  She had a red spot on her ear that required two visits, then she had a spot on her cheek that warranted a trip.  Oh, and she amazingly had rubbed the skin off of a spot on her nose, right between her eyes.  It took me a couple of days to realize that was even possibly caused by the helmet.  She hasn't had any real sores, though I won't let that happen unless it somehow sneaks up on me, so she hasn't had to spend significant time out of the helmet like it seems some babies do.  Josh and I think we can tell some difference in her head already, but it could just be wishful thinking.  I'm not sure when they will do more measurements.  Maybe after a month?  The important measurement for Ada is the cephalic (or cranial index), which is [(head width)/(head length)]x100.  Ada's was 95 when we started, and that puts her at 2 standard deviations from normal (which a little less than 80).

Here are some pictures from February 12 (starting full-time treatment), and February 24 (around 2 weeks in).

We don't have to go back to visit the orthotist for a month unless we see more red spots.  I'm skeptical that we'll make it that long, but hopefully so!

Every Princess Needs a Crown

I got a call Thursday afternoon, finally, that Ada's helmet was in.  I made an appointment for 10 AM Friday to take her for the fitting.
 Here we are waiting for Thomas to bring it in.  Aren't we happy? :)

The fitting was pretty painless.  The STARband comes a little rough/big so that the orthotist can trim it down to fit better.  So, he placed it on her head and made some markings and took it to their shop to open up the ear and forehead areas a bit.  When he brought it back it did look better, but it's still too big and therefore slips around on her head when she moves.  It needs to be a little loose right now so that it'll fit her for a while.  He said we'd let her wear it for a couple of days to let it start conforming to her had, and then come back in Monday and trim some more.  So, that was it, and we were off.  Here's my little sweetie in her brand new pink STARband.

She didn't seem overly pleased about it, but by the time we made it home she was sleeping pretty well :)

The first day she was to wear the helmet 1 hour on/1 hour off, and have it off for naps and bedtime.  The second day was 2 hours on/1 hour off, no naps or bedtime.  The third day it doubled again, so 4 hours on/1 hour off, but this time adding in naps and bedtime.  So, last night she slept in the helmet. I was prepared for a long, restless night.  I didn't sleep good myself because I kept expecting her to wake up, and I was worried that it'd get twisted around on her head as she wallowed in her bed.  Much to my (happy) surprise she slept all night!  She woke up for about 5 seconds around 2 AM, but went right back to sleep.  She was still sleeping like a rock when I went in to check on her around 7:30.  Her head was a little sweaty, but no real red spots to worry about.  All in all, she has done very well these first few days.  She gets frustrated when it drops down over her eyes - usually when she is crawling and playing.  I hope the trim today will help alleviate that problem.  After the trip back today, we'll go back again in a week, and then start monthly visits.  I hate to wish time away, but I have to say I'm ready to get this going and get it done!  Preferably before we get into the hot, hot Alabama Summer!

The Delight of an Age Group Award

I consider myself a casual runner.  I run so that I can eat what I want (mostly) and not get too fat.  I'm a mid-packer, if that, but I've done better and I've done worse.  I've finished last in a 5k.  I've FALLEN at the finish line (with the whole town watching).  I've done all I can to stay ahead of the ambulance bringing up the rear.
 
But sometimes, if I'm having a good day, and I'm really lucky, I get an age group award.  These little babies are wonderful - you get a medal/trophy/certificate, and they even call out your time (okay, that part isn't always so great).  And everyone claps for you.  You get to take your picture with your "hardware."  You might even get a $10 gift certificate to the running store.  That's all good stuff.  But the best thing you get with an age group award is a nice little confidence boost.  It makes you think..."huh, I am a winner even though I'm not the winner..." and we all need that sometimes.  It's a reason to go out and run another 5k, and maybe try a little harder than you would have otherwise.  And that's what everyone, everyone, everyone needs!  This past weekend I got an age group award AND a new PR for the 2-mile (17:33), and I'm pretty proud of myself.  It makes me think that maybe I can shave a good bit off of my 15k and half-marathon times in the next few months :)  All of that encouragement, from a little trophy.

Life is Tough. I recommend getting a manicure and a really cute HELMET!

Pretty early on I noticed that Ada's head looked a little funny.  I think we asked the pediatrician about it at her 2 month appointment, and she said we just need to reposition her in bed, etc, and it should get better.  It didn't...and I also noticed that she really liked to look to her right.  In fact, it was pretty difficult to get her to look to her left.  So, we asked about that at her 4 month appointment and the doctor agreed there was a problem, and said we'd correct it.  Ada was referred to a pediatric physical therapist at HH, so off we went.  She had something called torticollis.  This basically means that a muscle in the neck is tight for one reason or another, and it needs to be stretched.  The PT figured she was probably in a position in utero that caused the problem, and we started a stretching routine.  Ada didn't like any of the stretches, but we did it as much as we could, especially when she was asleep.  As part of the physical therapy/evaluation there were also measurements taken of Ada's head that showed she had some pretty severe "wonkiness".  We were told that unless something miraculous happened, we'd be referred to a specialist for that too after a good round of physical therapy.  She was released from physical therapy just after Christmas, and has good range of motion in her neck now (she can also crawl, pull up onto things on her knees, and sit fairly well).  She's very strong, and if anything, ahead of the curve developmentally, just like her big sis.  Her head had grown during the 2 months of physical therapy too, and there had been some improvement, but not enough to save her from the referral to an orthotist.  She has a condition called plagiocephaly.  It sounds much worse than it is...she just has a misshapen head - a flat spot.  Since the "Back to Sleep" campaign started (I think in 1992), the incidence of SIDS has dropped dramatically, but the incidence of things like plagiocephaly has sky-rocketed.  A flat head sure beats the alternative, so I don't want to complain, but prevention of both would be even better!  The flat spot is caused from the baby lying with her head in one position too much.  And since Ada really preferred to have her head turned slightly to the right, she has a flat spot on the back, right side.  I don't think she spent more time lying on her back than Maddie did (they both hated tummy time), but it happened.  This is the general shape of a plagiocephaly baby head:

I think Ada really has more of this shape.  Her head is wider than it is long...

This is mostly a cosmetic issue, but it can cause some problems such as jaw misalignment, and make things like wearing glasses difficult.  And let's face it, we live in a superficial world, and looks do matter.  She's a beautiful baby girl, and when her hair comes in the asymmetry probably won't even be noticable, but it's best to go ahead and do what we can to correct it now.  So, we went to visit Thomas at Active Orthopedic Bracing here in Huntsville.  This is the only place in North Alabama that provides this treatment.  I was a bit apprehensive about it because they have their own facility to make orthopedic braces and these helmets are supposed to be FDA regulated, and what were the odds?  I made a back-up appointment at a Hanger Clinic in Nashville just in case...  So here's my little sweetie waiting to meet the orthotist here in town.

She looks a little apprehensive too...I guess I was rubbing off on her.  We were pleasantly surprised that they don't make their own helmets there, but instead use a well-known one called a STARband (Orthomerica).  Safety in numbers, right?  I just feel better knowing we'll have something that has been used on lots of other babies before mine.  No one likes to be a tool of education when it comes to things like this.  We were also comforted by the fact that he's been doing this type of treatment for years, and is usually treating multiple babies like Ada all the time .  He has a lot of experience, and seems nice and gentle.  I was horrified, however, to hear that instead of using the fancy STARscanner, we'd be doing a casting process...on our almost-7-month old's little head.  I'd read about such horrific experiences, so Josh and I braced ourselves.  Ada was being really resistant, and we were only in the taking pictures and measurements phase, so we knew this wasn't going to go well.  So when she FELL ASLEEP a couple minutes into the casting, we were all astounded.  And relieved.  This is what that looked like.

So, in a few more days, she'll have a helmet like this one.  But her's will be pink and we'll bling it up.  We'll slowly work our way up to her wearing this beautiful new accessory 23 hours a day...just taking it off for bath time.  I'm hopeful she'll have a nice round (er) head by her 1st birthday and won't have to wear it any longer, but she could wear it until she's 18 months old.  It all depends on her particular growth patterns, which can't really be predicted.  So, if you see us out and about, or any other kid wearing a helmet like this, now you'll know what it's all about!  I can't say I'm looking forward to this process, but Josh & I think it's the right thing to do, so here we go!

More information if you're interested:

http://www.abouttummytime.com/
 (I have this book if anyone wants to borrow it)

 Cranial Technologies - What is plagiocephaly?

http://www.babycenter.com/0_torticollis_10912.bc