Plagiocephaly is not a dinosaur

Hi Friends and Family,

Some of you may or may not know that Amelia is now wearing a special helmet that will help reshape her head. She has a slight flat spot that was just driving me nuts. Jerry would say that it wasn't that bad, and that it wasn't that noticeable. But I saw it! Also, Amelia's pediatrician would not say that it was medically necessary for the helmet and that it is merely a cosmetic issue and that it was ultimately up to the parents to deal with this issue.

I took Amelia to Star Cranial Center of Excellence in Maitland for a consultation. After a quick exam via a futuristic laser, they determined that she had a "mild to moderate" condition and it was recommended that she be treated. At this point they tried to get my insurance to pay for the helmet, but as I mentioned above, since it is cosmetic, Blue Cross WOULD NOT PAY FOR IT! (This was no surprise to me since they won't even pay for birth control!) If they had it would have cost $3500. But since I was a cash patient, they were kind enough to drop the price down to $2300! If you are a parent, then you know,  that you will do anything for the well-being of your child, no matter the cost!

Up until this point, I had been blaming myself for Amelia's misshaped head. Did I not hold her enough? Did I let her sleep too long on her back? Did I not rotate my arms enough while feeding her? I have now let go of my guilt and accepted that some babies just fall prey to this terrible thing called Plagiocephaly and found a way to correct it with the STARBand.

The next hard step was taking Amelia out in public and putting on a smile and having a friendly reply when some old lady asked a stupid question about the helmet. She has only been wearing it for a little over a week, and so far the only negative comments she has received were from other children, which should be no shock since kids are so freakin' mean! The other day at an art festival I wanted to grab a little boy by the face and squeeze his cheeks and force him to apologize, but then I thought, no, the Mom should be doing that! Of course, that didn't happen.

Each day is getting easier. Amelia is adapting well to the helmet. We had a few days of discomfort, and had to go back once for an adjustment; but other than that, it's been smooth sailing!
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If you see a child wearing a helmet, please do not stare at he or she. Some people think Amelia is handicapped, or that she fell and broke her head, or that I'm just being over-protective by making her wear a helmet in case she  does fall! None of these are true. Amelia has no idea what is going on, so to her it's no big deal if someone gawks at her. However, I DO know what's going on. And it's all because we love her that she is wearing this helmet. I didn't want to face Amelia when she is older and have to answer the question "Mommy, why is my head shaped like this? Why didn't you try to fix it?" So you can see, it was not an easy decision. But it's only three months of our lives and then she will have a pretty round head again!

Here are some photos of our princess in her new gear.

Here are some fun websites dedicated to the Starband helmet.

http://www.starbandkids.com/

http://lazardo.smugmug.com/

http://www.blingyourband.com/

http://www.facebook.com/BlingYourBand

http://fixin-a-flat.blogspot.com/

If you have questions, please feel free to email me or leave a comment here.