Long Awaited Pictures

Still a little bit wide on the sides, but looks SOOOOO much better than before!!!!

There's still room for improvement right here (see arrow) but it's a lot LESS room than when we started.

When we started it was pretty much the entire back of his head, now we're about the size of a quarter.

This is the last spot to come out.

The 3 sutures in the skull join at this point, thus making it the last part to be corrected.

Another check up 5-4-11

Until then, we'll keep rounding!

What to do with your helmet when baby's got a fever?!?!?!

Little Easton has had a fever for 4 days.

Yes, you heard that correctly, 4 long days.

We noticed that when we took his helmet off his fever would go down and stay down.

When we'd put it back on, he'd get EXTRA sweaty.

The normal day to day sweating has stopped so we know it's due to his fever.

He does still sweat during naps and playing outside but not just normal day to day wear. 

That only lasted a few weeks.  

BJ did say we could remove the helmet when the fever spikes and put it back on when it goes down.

However, we just kept it off. 

Yesterday we took it off at 4pm and just put it back on today about 4pm.

Obviously this isn't ideal but Easton didn't seem to mind once we put it back on.

I don't think we missed out on any growth spurts and he slept on his belly so I don't think we made it any worse.

I do like to follow the rules and do 23\1 but for this weekend, we had to deal with the fever first.

11 Week Check Up- Dr K & BJ

Today we went to visit Dr. K for our head check.

Seriously, I don't know what purpose he serves.

Other than he's a DOCTOR....but I mean really,

does he remember what his noggin looks like from 6 weeks ago?

Anyways, he took his helmet off, felt around a little, did a little scribble scrabble on his helmet letting BJ know he needed more room and sent us on our way.

5 minutes max.

On to BJ

BJ, on the other hand, knows Easton's head like a book.

He was very pleased with how much it had changed in just 2 weeks.

He had taken out more in the top (near the crown) and could really feel a difference. 

Last Measurements:

Cranial Width: 139mm

Cranial Length: 148mm

Cephalic Index (width/length): 93%

Left anterior to Right posterior: 149mm

Right anterior to Left Posterior: 148 1/2mm

Cranial Vault Asymmetry (difference of L & R):  1/2mm

Today's Measurements:

Cranial Width: 139.5mm

Cranial Length: 148mm

Cephalic Index (width/length): 93%

Left anterior to Right posterior: 147mm

Right anterior to Left Posterior: 150mm

Cranial Vault Asymmetry (difference of L & R):  3mm

Numbers don't really look too much different but all the little knots and bumps are coming out.
You can sure feel a difference.  And see a difference when his head is wet.

We go back to see Dr. K in 6 weeks.

Dr. K said we'd probably have to be in the helmet a total of 6 months but I'm praying for less time.
We'll just take these next 6 weeks and focus on only that. 
If it is 6 months, we're halfway.

We go back to see BJ May 4th. 
More updates then. 
Maybe some pix next week to show you the little noggin.

4/7/11 Check Up

This diagram is SO elementary, but I thought it might help.

BJ uses something similar. 

Last Measurements:

Cranial Width: 137mm

Cranial Length: 145mm

Cephalic Index (width/length): 94%

Left anterior to Right posterior: 142mm

Right anterior to Left Posterior: 144mm

Cranial Vault Asymmetry (difference of L & R):  2mm

Today's Measurements:

Cranial Width: 139mm (Diagram A)

Cranial Length: 148mm (Diagram B)

Cephalic Index (width/length): 93%

Left anterior to Right posterior: 149mm (Diagram C)

Right anterior to Left Posterior: 148 1/2mm (Diagram C)

Cranial Vault Asymmetry (difference of L & R):  1/2mm

All these numbers HAVE IMPROVED so we're super excited about this,
but there is still work that needs to be done. 

See Diagram D
This is from the top of the head- looking down.
Just like Diagram C.
The line across the back is similar to Easton's head shape.
We want it to look more like the outer circle.
The outer circle is about accurate at the occiput (posterior (back) portion of the head)
But we need the top to come out some more.
So, even though is Cranial Vault Asymmetry is only off 1/2mm, it's really not. 
Because it measures from the widest part of the head. 
Which is the occiput.
So, we need that top part to fill in a little more. 

Clear as mud...right!?!?!
Mm Hm...that's what I thought. 

BJ did take some out of the top of the helmet to allow for new growth to shift upwards.
We're hoping for some major growth spurts so we see some more changes!

We go back to Dr. Kelly on the 20th and then on to see BJ after that.

BJ said 6-8 more weeks.
But it's all based on his growth.
I'll look at it like this, we're more than half way there. 
10 weeks tomorrow.

And, this has been a breeze.  Perhaps it's Easton and his easy going personality or perhaps just because we as parents (or, me as mom- daddy was confident) made a bigger deal initally about it,
but this has not been bad at all. 
I do hope he has it off before the heat of summer because he does sweat a lot!
But, again, this bothers us more than it bothers him. 
And the cleaning it every night is a pain, but whatever.
It's temporary!

We'll see you back next week for some more head pictures!

9 Weeks

Remember....here's our head BEFORE HELMET...

And here's our head 9 weeks in the helmet...

Right side's looking good.

If I was a bettin' woman, I'd bet we're gonna need 'more room' again on the left side.

You can see here that the occipital is coming out. 

If you put your thumb and pointer together on both hands to make an O and put it at that spot

you can definitely see it coming out.

That's BJ's trick.  When you localize it like that you can see more change.

We'll take it.

And because he's so dang cute...

here's his little face.

You see the back of his head most of the time!

BJ Thursday!

Will update after!

Thanks for reading!

Happy Rounding!

2 Months

2 months in the helmet!

I'm satisfied with the progress.

Progress has slowed- or maybe we're just used to seeing it so we don't notice.

But I do think it's getting better.

The "occipital" is coming out nicely. 





Yes...there's the occipital bone.

It's lumpy and wonky feeling back there, but that's a good sign.

That means it's coming out.

We go to see BJ Thursday.

It's been 3 weeks since we've seen him so I'm anxious to hear what he thinks!

Hopefully this marks our half way point.

We'd love to be out of this by summer!

Be back Thursday for Helmet Update!