I woke up at 8 a.m. excited to get ready for a full day of work and I don't mean Lola. Today was suppose to be my first day back at CFA. My dad had cleared his schedule so we could get a good meeting and day in to start everything off on a good note. After today, I would be able to move forward with a clear idea of what my goals and focus needed to be.
But at 8:30 a.m. a received a call. You wouldn't believe it. The plastic surgery clinic that is taking Lola in about her head late next month had a cancellation and wanted to see if I could bring Lola in today at 11:00 a.m. I kept thinking while I was listening to the message... just don't be today, just don't be today. I desperately wanted her to see this doctor sooner so this was my opportunity. I embarrassingly called my dad and he was very gracious about it. He understood and didn't make me feel bad at all. Thankfully, because I felt bad on my own. So I should hopefully start CFA later this week. Maw-Maw is having surgery so it may be next week before we can pull an entire day together like we had planned on doing today. Thanks to my dad/boss for being so great about things today. I feel like this was God's way of confirming why CFA is my best option and how there really is no pressure.
First the real name for box-head is plagiocephaly and Lola's kind is Brachycephaly Plagiocephaly (BP). It is were there is a flat spot on the middle back part of her head causing her head to become widened and it's creates a tower top which causes the slope on top of her head. The pictures of babies with BP look so much like Lola it is unreal.
So to the appointment. I took Lola in and it was a pretty big deal. Bigger than I thought. My mom went with me. Clay was planning on going in September but obviously with no notice he couldn't manage to make it today. I was glad to have someone with me. Thanks Nonna. They took measurements of her head, did a scan of her head which was very neat, did photographs of her head (like professional ones- lol), and then talked to me about all the details and measurements. I didn't make any decisions today. We did go ahead and ask them to move forward with insurance so if we decided on getting Lola a helmet then insurance would already have accepted or denied the claim. If they do deny it, I don't see us moving forward because it would cost around $3,000. If the do accept it, then Clay and I have a decision to make.
Here's the bottom lines:
1. Her head will never be "normal" without a helmet. It may get better, but not round like a helmet would do.
2. The width of her head is not normal compared to other baby girls her age. A normal range falls between .5 - .6 and hers is .983. She said on a bell shaped curve (the top being normal/average) Lola would fall at the end of the curve... And to be perfectly honest the width bothers me more than the flat spot.
3. Her head does have a flat spot which has caused the width problem and the tower affect, which means the top back part of her head comes up and then the top slopes down to get to her forehead.
4. This window of time is the absolute perfect time to fix her head.
5. She thought 23 hours a day for about 3 months would correct her head shape.
We don't really want to decide right away, because we need to know if insurance will cover this or not.
Here's are thoughts:
1. If we have the opportunity to make her head shape more round, should we?
2. Does more round, mean prettier? (Who knows)
3. They didn't always have helmets and everyone else's heads seem fine.
4. Have you ever looked at a lady (or man) and thought she is so unattractive because she has a flat/wide head?
5. And my last thought is I feel like her head is hers, and I am a little nervous to change it up. (It's her trademark! lol) I would just hate it later, if I feel like I should have done it. But I wouldn't know that till later... gambling on her head shape doesn't seem fair to her.
6. I am adding an after thought after visiting the website below. I think her pictures of the progression are impressive and I love the end result, so to speak. Their numbers/measurements are close and she had lots of luck with her head shape and she didn't do it until she was a little older. This make me want to move forward 100% with or without insurance. See website link below.
I think in the long run this may seem like a silly thing to give so much thought, but at the time it seems serious to us. Will you all pray that this will be an easy decision for us and we can make the right one? Clay and I both agree that the helmet will probably be harder on us than her. I don't know anyone who has put a helmet on their baby so if you do, any insight would be great.
This is me publicly asking for your opinion. E-mail it to me!! I am going to post some pictures so you can get a better look! :)
I tried to pull ones that weren't all about flattery so you could really see her head shaped. The helmet will help the width (the part above her ears) go more toward the back to make it round therefore making her head not so wide. The slant on top of her head should round out as well with the aid of the helmet. (Soon I will post pictures when her hair is wet. It looks like a different head then!)
P.S. I have a cute story. Kebby, Clay, Lola, and myself went to Tino's tonight. Clay offered to pray over our dinner... so we prayed. On our way out I only had one quarter for gum and Kebby asked first so she got it over Clay. Impressively Kebby trusted Clay to get her the gum since she was holding Lola. When he came back outside with the gum he had a goofy little boy grin on his face. He held up two gum balls and was so excited an extra one came out for him. He said, just like a little boy would, his chin tucked under and kind of shy..."It's because I prayed." Just maybe it was.
After doing some searching on the internet I ran into this website:
http://mymaysa.wordpress.com/
This website is worth clicking on- even to just see the first page. It's scary how much Lola's head is shaped like hers at 6.5 months. I really liked her website. It is a good personal website to explore. I liked seeing her pictures and I think I will get faster results just because I am starting her earlier? She had a baby with the same thing and got treatment for her, but when she was older. I can tell her baby had this through her earlier pictures and her head does seem wider now, but to be quite honest- she is one beautiful baby. I actually really like the way her head is shaped! I want to explore her website a little more, but I think her head shape looks great on her! :)
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