Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Super mad!
Levi has been doing really well with his helmet....until today. When I dropped him off at daycare everything was fine. His "teacher" called around 1pm & said he had a pink spot where the helmet was touching his cheek. Ok, the helmet is supposed to fit snug, especially on the parts that are too far out, so I thought it was ok, he usually is pink on his forehead & back of his head. I thought nothing of it. She made it seem like it was nothing. Today when we get home I notice he has a bad odor about him so I took the helmet off to clean it. As you can imagine, it gets sweaty in there. OMG my poor baby! His face was basically blistered! There was a huge RED spot, not pink. It's swollen, bruised, & soggy, almost like its raw. I could cry. I smelled his face and gaged. I guess as he drank his bottle some milk went down his face & got behind the helmet. All day my poor guy sat in sweat & sour milk. Not only is his face raw, his neck is too! I'm disgusted & heartbroken. This helmet thing is doing more harm than good so far. I emailed a picture to his dr. And she called me right away to say that I need to leave the helmet off for at least 24 hours & send her new pictures tomorrow. So now, not only is his face raw, the expensive helmet is not even able to be used. I'm so mad I could just give up with the whole thing, but I won't. This is going to be a long 3 months! I guess I need to have a talk with the daycare in the morning, which I hate doing. I hate sounding like the griping parent!! The neck thing has already been an issue though. I can get it all cleared up over the weekend & by Monday when I pick him up, it's raw again. He has very sensitive skin so I'm wondering if his skin will reject the helmet for good. I can't deal with this on his face. (it's actually red on both sides, but the other side is just red, not raw) prayers for my boy, please!
Proud of my parents!!
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Levi update
We went today for Levi's helmet fitting. It went well. The dr. came in with the helmet, put it on him & marked where adjustments needed to be made. Once she walked out the door I lost it. I felt so sorry for this little boy who is going to be stared at not because he is so handsome & adorable, but because he looks like he's about to go bike riding. (even Cori thinks its a bike helmet.) he is just so tiny & I can't help but to blame myself. I wish I would have ignored everyone who says back sleeping is the way to go. If I would have listened to my mom & all the other mothers & laid him on his tummy we wouldn't be in this situation. I wish I could go back for a re-do. Anyway I got myself together before she came back in & eased up a bit. Who cares if people stare. Who cares what they think. He's still my little bundle of perfect no matter what. I'm getting used to it already & he seems to be handling it just fine too. He doesn't have to sleep in it for a a week or so so right now he's in the "getting used to it" stage. I think he will do fine. Three months to go!
He's so cute, I think.
He's so cute, I think.
Friday, March 9, 2012
Helmet Confessionals
So unfortunately our little Levi will have to wear a cranial molding helmet for 3 months (23 hours a day).
We went again on Tuesday for the 2nd set of head scans to see if the flattening of his skull had gotten worse or better. It got worse. They said he has grown in the last 5 weeks and his head is growing in the deformed shape, rather than evening out into a nice round shape. The Dr. advised me to go forward with the helmet b/c the placement of his flat spot is right where the suture of the skull meets. She said we will see great results with the helmet. Better to get it over with now and know that it will be forever fixed. The main thing she was concerned with was his ear placement. His right ear is very much more forward than his left ear.
This picture is as if his head was see through, you can see the right ear in the darker blue, and the left ear in the lighter blue. The back of his head is kind of exaggerated in the angle I took the pic, it is not that big. His forehead is symmetrical, and so is the rest of his face so that is excellent news! The first scans showed that his chin was kind of going to one side...but that has corrected its self.
We ordered his helmet and scheduled his fitting for next Thursday. I chose a camo print for a few reasons. It's camo...so you can't see it, right? (And I love all things camo). All the other ones for boys were so lame. Teddy bears, dinosaurs, race cars.....I wanted it to be the least noticeable as possible. They mentioned going with a plain white one, but the lady at the front said after a while it looks yellowish and icky, no thanks. The girl options were much better....they even had a light solid pink....but no light solid blue....whats up with that? I told James we gotta go shopping this weekend and buy everything we can in camo so he can at least match the majority of the time. I hope it's not an ugly camo though.
The first time they sent the request to the insurance company they immediately denied it. They asked us to come in for scans at that time. After they sent the scans, numbers, and pictures of our tiny human, someone must have felt sorry for him (or loved his sweet face) because the second request was accepted. You'd think this would be good news.....eh, not so much. Because my employer does not offer me health insurance and James is self employed, we have a private policy that is NOT cheap. The only way to make it affordable is to have a high deductible ($5000). So we are out of pocket for the entire cost of the helmet, which is $2500. (That had to be paid up front on Tuesday) **Side Note, just because I'm feeling sorry for myself: If we could have done the helmet for Levi in December we would not be of pocket for the helmet. We met our deductible about 3.5 times in 2011 because I had maternity care, labor and delivery of this sweet boy with absolutely zero maternity coverage.** Bleh, Levi needs a job, he's going to make us homeless! I could have bought him a nice car, but instead he just gets to be born and have a nice round head. I'm kidding - I'm happy that we can do whatever it takes to make him perfect. The only good news about the insurance accepting it is that we get their contracted price of $2500. With no insurance the price was $3250. I'll take the savings any day!! also it goes towards our deductible early in the year encase anything else were to happen.....which it better not.
Anyway, I'll quit boring you with the details, but if you get time, please pray that this very expensive and tiny gear works wonders for Levi and that he is happy and content wearing it. I am so, very worried about the next 3 months to come. I hope he isn't miserable. I hope he knows I'm trying to do what is right for him. Also, please pray that I keep my cool in public when people stare out of curiosity or think that something is wrong with him. I know he is going to look silly but I am really not ready for the stares and the questions. Pray that I have patience with people that just want to know what is going on, and that I have the emotional control to explain to them and teach them about it. This is hard for me. I like to blend in, not stand out.....I have a feeling this will make us stand out.
xoxo
We went again on Tuesday for the 2nd set of head scans to see if the flattening of his skull had gotten worse or better. It got worse. They said he has grown in the last 5 weeks and his head is growing in the deformed shape, rather than evening out into a nice round shape. The Dr. advised me to go forward with the helmet b/c the placement of his flat spot is right where the suture of the skull meets. She said we will see great results with the helmet. Better to get it over with now and know that it will be forever fixed. The main thing she was concerned with was his ear placement. His right ear is very much more forward than his left ear.
This picture is as if his head was see through, you can see the right ear in the darker blue, and the left ear in the lighter blue. The back of his head is kind of exaggerated in the angle I took the pic, it is not that big. His forehead is symmetrical, and so is the rest of his face so that is excellent news! The first scans showed that his chin was kind of going to one side...but that has corrected its self.
We ordered his helmet and scheduled his fitting for next Thursday. I chose a camo print for a few reasons. It's camo...so you can't see it, right? (And I love all things camo). All the other ones for boys were so lame. Teddy bears, dinosaurs, race cars.....I wanted it to be the least noticeable as possible. They mentioned going with a plain white one, but the lady at the front said after a while it looks yellowish and icky, no thanks. The girl options were much better....they even had a light solid pink....but no light solid blue....whats up with that? I told James we gotta go shopping this weekend and buy everything we can in camo so he can at least match the majority of the time. I hope it's not an ugly camo though.
The first time they sent the request to the insurance company they immediately denied it. They asked us to come in for scans at that time. After they sent the scans, numbers, and pictures of our tiny human, someone must have felt sorry for him (or loved his sweet face) because the second request was accepted. You'd think this would be good news.....eh, not so much. Because my employer does not offer me health insurance and James is self employed, we have a private policy that is NOT cheap. The only way to make it affordable is to have a high deductible ($5000). So we are out of pocket for the entire cost of the helmet, which is $2500. (That had to be paid up front on Tuesday) **Side Note, just because I'm feeling sorry for myself: If we could have done the helmet for Levi in December we would not be of pocket for the helmet. We met our deductible about 3.5 times in 2011 because I had maternity care, labor and delivery of this sweet boy with absolutely zero maternity coverage.** Bleh, Levi needs a job, he's going to make us homeless! I could have bought him a nice car, but instead he just gets to be born and have a nice round head. I'm kidding - I'm happy that we can do whatever it takes to make him perfect. The only good news about the insurance accepting it is that we get their contracted price of $2500. With no insurance the price was $3250. I'll take the savings any day!! also it goes towards our deductible early in the year encase anything else were to happen.....which it better not.
Anyway, I'll quit boring you with the details, but if you get time, please pray that this very expensive and tiny gear works wonders for Levi and that he is happy and content wearing it. I am so, very worried about the next 3 months to come. I hope he isn't miserable. I hope he knows I'm trying to do what is right for him. Also, please pray that I keep my cool in public when people stare out of curiosity or think that something is wrong with him. I know he is going to look silly but I am really not ready for the stares and the questions. Pray that I have patience with people that just want to know what is going on, and that I have the emotional control to explain to them and teach them about it. This is hard for me. I like to blend in, not stand out.....I have a feeling this will make us stand out.
xoxo
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