First Week

They say the first week is the hardest. Well, I'd have to agree.  We started off great.  She barely noticed it.  Then we attempted to have her sleep in it.  Naps...OK.  Bedtime...uh not so much.  She got up every hour the first night until I finally took it off at 4am and we snuggled in bed and got a few good hours in. Second night got up every 3 hours but it took 2 hours to get her back to sleep. Fail again.  On full time wear day she was a pro.  Didn't seem to notice it at all.  I pulled it off at 6pm to give her a nice little bath and noticed a big ol' red spot that didn't fade.  Argh.  Too late to call the orthotist so she slept without it.  Ahhhhh, 10 hours of uninterrupted sleep, but no helping the flatty.  When I called the office first thing in the morning they said they were booked solid (really?) and to just wear it intermittently until my regularly scheduled appointment tomorrow.  I attempted to have her sleep in it again tonight but the red spot just got darker.  Another night wasted.  I hate to be little miss negative, but it seems I just wasted a week of probable growth and those two nights of no sleep got us nowhere since we are back at square one with her getting used to sleeping in it. 

Let's hope we get these kinks worked out and on our way to fixin' that flat!

Finally, some zzzzzzzzzz's

Happy to have the helmet off!

Helmet Day 1

Little birdie got her helmet today. :(  I guess it really wasn't as bad as I was expecting, but it's not fun for Mommy no matter how cute she looks in it!  She was in it 3 hours today and will go for the 2 hour stretches tomorrow.  Honestly, I don't even think she noticed it was on.  I'm nervous about nursing her in it, but have faith it will be just fine. I am designing her "bling" and hopefully will give her some style in the next couple of weeks!

Check out the cutey in her cap...I love the one in her saucer, looks like she's groovin' to the beat!  What a little chunk.  More tomorrow...

The Journey Begins

Welcome to my blog!  I'm starting this blog because when we found out little Quinn was a candidate for the helmet, I went searching like crazy for any info I could find.  I scoured the internet for blogs, pictures, anything I could get my eyes on.  If this blog helps one mom out there as she embarks on this crazy journey, well then I'm happy.  Plus, it gives me an outlet for all my thoughts, emotions and experiences.  I don't claim to be a wordsmith or a master blogger by any means so please forgive the simpleness!  Anyway, here is where it begins...

We noticed Quinn had a flat spot on her left side at about 2 weeks.  We mentioned it to her pediatrician and he basically shrugged it off and said make the right side of her life more interesting.  We didn't really think much of it and thought it was cute how she had a "favorite position" to sleep in.  At her two month appointment the pediatrician again sort of shrugged off her ever flattening side and said "put her on her side and pin her to the bed" (yup, you heard that right).  Being first time parents, we were worried about many things, a flat spot just wasn't one of them (oh how we wish it was!).  Well, at 4 months we were told it might be a good idea to see a neurosurgeon just to have it checked out.  After about 2 minutes of glancing at her head, we were given a prescription for a helmet due to the technical term for flat head, Plagiocephaly, and sent on our way.  NOOOOOOOOO!  I could barely keep it together in the office.  Quinn had been in a Pavlik harness for the first 9 weeks of her life for a hip dislocation, now to hear she had to be in a helmet?  I had failed as a mother!  My poor baby will not have a normal babyhood!  People will stare!  I was distraught.  I had a million thoughts running through my head.  Should we?  Shouldn't we?  Would it pop out?  If it doesn't, what will she think when she's 13 and her glasses don't fit (and you know she will have mommy's crappy eyesight)?  In the end, it felt like the right decision to afford her every opportunity in life and put her in the helmet.  A few months now for a lifetime of beauty ;).  Life is hard enough, you don't need to throw a crooked face and head in the mix (they said she had forehead bossing and crooked ears, too).

 Quinn in her harness.

After the big decision to go forward came the decision on who was going to give her care.  We heard horror stories on the plaster casting so we looked for the orthotists who would do the scan.  We made our appointment with Star Cranial of Excelence.  We walked in and the office staff was rude and the second Quinn laid eyes on the orthotist, she burst out in tears.  They're out.  We decided to go with an orthotist who our neurologist highly recommended.  He swore he could do the casting in 4 minutes.  We made our appointment.  No looking back, here we go.