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!