Friday, August 17, 2012

A new way of life

       Amelia has been adapting very well to life with her band.   She doesn't seem to be bothered at all that she has it on.   In fact, she seems crankier on her one hour a day break than she does at any other time of day.   I don't know if her crankiness stems from me taking off the band, her nightly bath or her trying to roll over to the coffee table and banging her head without the added protection of the band as a buffer.  Whatever the reason, the "on" time is much more pleasant.   All my fears about not being able to manage her while wearing the band and the complications I thought it would cause really hasn't happened at all.

 
        The stares Amelia's been receiving in public have been interesting to say the least.   I think the decorations help, but people don't know quite how to ask why she's wearing the band.  I have had a couple people comment on how cute it looked on her and I could tell that they wanted to ask what was wrong with her but can't quite figure out how to phrase it in a polite way.   A woman serving in our church nursery was sooo relieved when I told her what the band was for.   She thought something horrible had happened to Amelia.   The few people who have asked have been very nice and I like being able to educate them about plagiocephaly.   The freakiest thing is that random strangers come up to her and call her by name.   I keep forgetting that I put her name on the front of the band and I freak out for a half a second before realizing why they know it.

      Wednesday was Amelia's second adjustment appointment.   I was excited because it was the first one that I got to go to.   They have a mold of her head and they compare it to her head now.   It's amazing to see that her little noggin is already starting to change.   The right side has already begun to fill in.  It's so encouraging to see that kind of progress!

Monday, August 6, 2012

Amelia's skin is much better today

Amelia's skin around her ears and on the neck line looks much better this morning. I called the office first thing and they told me I needed to come back down today. Unfortunately, it is a work night for Tim, so I had to take all three girls with me. We got there around 1pm and they shaved down some more places where there seems to be too much pressure applied. She still needs to go back this Wednesday for her first adjustment. I hope this is the end of the skin nightmare.

Sunday, August 5, 2012

Amelia has her band

     July 18th was a big day. Amelia went to her Dsi appointment down in Phoenix, AZ. I noticed that the drive to Phoenix pretty much looks the same as the drive to Orange county. Dirt followed by rocks, some more dirt a little city traffic and about four hours of the kids asking when we would get there. All in all the drive wasn't too terrible and the girls handled it pretty well.

     The Dsi appointment was pretty cool. The Dsi stands for digital surface imaging and the equipment looked like it came straight out of a scifi movie. I posted a picture from Crainal Tech's site so you can get an idea of what it looks like. Basically, the baby sits on the stool held up by a clinician and the machine takes digital images of the skull. To accomplish this, Amelia had to wear a stocking over her head to completely smooth the surface. She did not like the stocking over her face and decided she was not going to cooperate with the process at all. She pushed with all her strength and fought both myself and the poor woman holding her. At last we gave her a pacifier under the stocking and she was good to go. She looked like a little baby bank robber :) Once the images were taken they sent them to the lab to make her band and we were off to Cracker Barrel for breakfast.

   

   





    Our next appointment was August 1st. We arrived at the office around 9am. The appointment lasted about an hour. They had to check to make sure the band wasn't irritating her skin. Barb, the clinician shaved down a few spots and we waited for Amelia to become comfortable with the band while we went over a list of instructions. All was well and we headed home. Of course we stopped by Cracker Barrel for lunch again, Emma insisted on it.

We were instructed to take the band off every three hours for the first two days, clean it with rubbing alcohol and check for red spots lasting for more than a few hours.The first two days she reacted great to the band. I, of course took the off period opportunities to decorate it with stickers and Mod Podge :)
  After the first two days of 3 hour checks, she needs to wear the band 23 hours a day. Friday was her first full day and unfortunately, when I took the band off around 6pm to wash it and bathe her, I noticed that her skin had rubbed of in parts on the back of her head. We had to take off the band for the rest of the weekend and see what they say to do when I call first thing tomorrow.