Kieran got plastered...

We're home.  We're plastered.  We're back into waiting mode.

Kieran's helmet will be done in 2 weeks!

Our appointment went really well.  We met with our orthotist, Trevor, and had a chat about what we were told by the pediatrician and what we've done in terms of positioning.  He gave us the option of trying positioning for another 2 weeks and make our decision after that, or to just go ahead with things.

Another 2 weeks? Seriously, dude?  After trying the positioning techniques for almost 2 months, what is another 2 weeks going to do for us?  That means an extra trip to the big city, a day off work for John, and another 2 weeks of me biting my nails.  Did you see my nails, Trevor? Did you?

So we were left alone to talk.  But we already knew what we were going to do, so our talk lasted 3 seconds and we spent the next 9 minutes and 57 seconds bouncing our little dude and staring at the ugly yellow walls. That's right Sick Kids, your casting room walls are ugly.

The casting went really well.  Except for this part;

And taking the cast off, which we didn't get a picture of, but it closely resembled the above picture, plus a cast and minus John trying to cram the sucky down Kieran's throat.

We got some awesome news that the helmet only needs to be worn for upwards of 18 hours a day, instead of the dreaded 23.  Our little guy will get a bit of a break each day instead of just being free for tubby time.

So we head back on May 17th to pick it up and learn all about it and our real journey will begin.  It's gonna be a long, hot summer, kiddo.  Mommy apologizes profusely.

I'll upload some more pictures of the casting process to the 'Pictures' section.  Oh and I know I said the helmet is ready in 2 weeks but May 17th is 3 weeks away...it's not because I can't add, it's because they're booked up for May 10th and are trying to bump someone out of their appointment to move us up.  We're that important.

Anticipation and other news...

Well it's officially less than one week away from our consult, and I'm going nuts in anticipation. 

Kieran, on the other hand, appears to have other things on his mind, like when his next meal is coming and how long he can go without pooping.

I've been wracking my brain about how we're going to decorate the helmet.  I've seen so many great ideas online, but I'm so artistically challenged it's not even funny.  I don't get it - I come from a family of artistes.  My sister and mom are amazing, they can do anything.  My dad can draw pirate ships.  I can draw stick figures with bows in their hair and paint crooked rainbows.  Neither of which I think Kieran will want on his head.

I think I'm going to spam a bunch of vehicle wrap companies, sell them our sob story, and hope they'll help us out.   If 360 Wraps can do it, any other company should be able to, right?  I'll give it a shot.  Keep your fingers crossed for this artistically challenged mama.

In other news, Kieran's officially started eating solids! I say "officially" because he's had tastes of things here and there for about the last month, but nothing consistently, and it's usually stuff that's been snuck to him by his Gran that he really shouldn't have been eating.  He's still alive though, so I guess it was okay. 

You tell our doctor about any of this and I'll find you.

A little background..

Here is our story.

Kieran was born on Remembrance Day, 2009.  We're positive he came that day to make sure no one would forget him.  He's just that kind of dude.

After a month or two of him being in our lives, I noticed the back of his head looked a little flat.  Everyone told me it was okay, "not that flat", and "it would round itself out".

A couple more months went by and it was still flat.  Maybe a little rounder.  Maybe not, it was probably just my wishful thinking.

At Kieran's 4 month check up, our family doctor noticed it and asked how long it had been that way.  I figured she'd noticed before - it had pretty much always been like that.  I noticed it, she should have too.

She gave us a brochure full of frightening information on plagiocephaly and craniosyntosis and referred us to a pediatrician.  We had to wait like 3 weeks with the worst case scenarios stuck in our heads because of that stupid brochure.

April 1, 2010 was our first meeting with the pediatrician.  He checked Kieran all over.  Turned him this way and that.  Got spit up on.  Got peed on.  Laughed about it.  He was amazing.  He said it might round out on it's own, but would never be truly round.  He told us about a device that's used to help round out little heads.  A helmet.  I know, right? A helmet.

I asked him what he would do if he were in our position.  At first he told us that he wasn't sure, but after a little thought he said he'd go with the helmet.  Kieran is 5 month old and the perfect age for treatment.  If we don't treat it and hope it rounds out on it's own and it doesn't it will no longer be treatable.  He said many times parents decide to wait to see if their little person's head will fix itself, but after a while it's too late and they regret not going for the treatment.

We left there with a big decision to make.  Let our babe live his life with a flat head (that's purely a cosmetic issue) or use a device that has a serious stigma attached to it and put our honey bunny through a couple of months of discomfort.

We don't want to live our life with any regrets when it comes to our son.  We don't want him to resent us later either for not fixing something that can be fixed.  It's a couple of months and he'll get used to it.  And when he's older we want him to wear a baseball cap, or be able to shave his head like his daddy, and no one will comment on the shape of his head.

Houston, we're going for the helmet.  Now we sit and wait for a consult.

Fixin' a Flat

Hi! I'm Melissa, mommy to Kieran. He's the most perfect, awesome, funny, happy, handsome little guy in the world. There's just one problem. He has a flat head.

That's why I'm here. Because my perfect, awesome, funny, happy, handsome little dude looks like he's been smacked in the back of the head with a book.

This is our journey towards a round head. This is us fixin' a flat.