Calamine Lotion Is Our Best Friend!

We are surviving the chickenpox but very ready for it to all be over with! Our poor little baby is covered with large red spots. They are in her ears, her mouth, and even her nose! She has been miserable. Monday night we got a total of about 2 1/2 hours of sleep. She just couldn't get comfortable. She actually scratched her ear so much that it bled. Yesterday I talked to her doctor and they called her out a prescription for the itching and to help her sleep. She is doing much better today. She is OK as long as I am close to her. The fever has stayed down so we have been able to keep the helmet on. That is a big answered prayer. As of this morning it looks as though it has finally stopped spreading.
Since this is chickenpox and not a reaction to her helmet we will not have to go to Nashville tomorrow for her follow up visit. We are very happy to cut out one road trip. When they called today to confirm her appointment for tomorrow they asked me if I had noticed any redness during her routine skin checks. I laughed and then told them about her chickenpox. All those times we were having to remove the helmet and check her scalp and face for redness I never thought I would be checking for chickenpox.
Morgan is doing really well wearing her helmet even with her itchy head. She is so laid back and we are SO thankful. Thank you all for your prayers. Hopefully this will all be over soon.

Seeing Spots!!!!!!!!

Morgan has chickenpox! I was afraid this is what it was but was hoping it would be a heat rash due to the helmet. I have no idea where she got chickenpox from. We have been SO SO careful to not expose her to anything the last few weeks. We knew if she got sick and had a fever we would have to remove her helmet until the fever went down. At this point the doctor said she could keep wearing it unless her fever increases. She looks so pitiful. The "spots" had tripled in number between the time I got her dressed and got her to the doctors office. It should take 7-10 days to get over. I will have to keep her home and away from everyone until the last one scabs over. We are so thankful that at this time we will not have to keep the helmet off. Hopefully Avery will not get them. She had the chickenpox vaccine when she was one. We were told today that 1 in 4 children who have the vaccine will still get the virus. Let's just pray that we don't have to be that one.
When this started I would have never dreamed that she would have chickenpox. We have been checking her head twice a day for any irritations or redness from the helmet. When I noticed the spots I automatically assumed it was from her helmet. This whole things is almost funny... when it rains it pours!

Prayer Request

We have a prayer request tonight to share with everyone. Last night before putting Morgan to bed I noticed four red bumps on her forehead, nape of her neck, and behind her ear. This morning when she woke up they had tripled in number and tonight her head is covered in red bumps. She also has several spots on her tummy and back. I talked with someone from Restorative Health Services this afternoon. They recommended we take her helmet off for a few hours and see if the red spots get better. After 3 hours with it off, unfortunately, they stayed the same. We will have to call our pediatrician first thing in the morning to get her in. We are praying this is not anything serious and won't require her to leave the helmet off for long.

Stupid Things People Say...

Today we took another trip to Wal Mart. For the most part it was much easier than last week. Just a few odd glances and one or two questions about what the helmet is for. There was one comment that a lady made that I just couldn't pass up posting. I hope you get as much of a laugh out of reading it as I did hearing it straight from her mouth. "That is the smartest gadget I have seen yet. So many kids fall out of those shopping carts and get seriously injured. I think it is smart to put a helmet on her!" I didn't know what to say to her. How do you respond to a stupid statement like that. I wanted to ask her how many kids she had seen fall out of shopping carts. I am sure it does happen. I am just not sure that it happens often enough for someone to design a helmet that your child would wear while riding in a shopping cart. I just looked at her and said, "That isn't really what it is for."

On to another topic... sleep! Unfortunately, this is not a topic that I know a lot about. Morgan has not slept very well the last few nights. I hope tonight will be different. Everyone has been asking us how they can pray for her. I think as of now, sleep is our main prayer request. She seems to be doing well during the day. Unfortunately, I am so tired from being up so much at night with her, it is hard to focus on her physical therapy during the day. I am sure she will get better over time.
I will try to post a picture soon of her newly decorated helmet. We put her name on it a few days ago. It is pretty cute.

Physical Therapy Update

Morgan had her first physical therapy appointment with her helmet on yesterday. She is doing well. A few little issues seem to have returned since starting helmet therapy. She is doing great with holding her trunk straight and reaching for things with both arms. The problem we are going to be trying to correct over the next two weeks is with her hips. While sitting she seems to raise one hip higher. To help in correcting this I will have to place a towel under her left side while she is sitting. I will keep a towel in her highchair, car seat and swing as well. Basically anytime she is sitting we will use the towel to try and correct this problem. She is also working on crawling. I learned a few things I can do to help her pull her knees up and use both legs while crawling. Right now she likes to use her elbows and one leg to scoot along. Lastly, the muscle in her neck is very tight again. She was not happy when the Therapist was stretching her. I will have to stretch it out several times a day again. The muscle issue is from the Torticollis. The Torticollis is what originally caused her to start favoring one side of her body over the other. It is a lot harder to stretch her well with the helmet on but we will figure it out.
As for sleep...she has not slept as well the last two nights. Last night she was up several times. I guess we can't complain too much. Overall she is adjusting so well. I think that her body temperature is starting to adjust to the helmet as well. I have not noticed her sweating as much today.
She has done so well and we are so thankful. We have seen so many prayers answered already!

Sweet Dreams

Last night was Morgan's first night in her helmet and she did amazingly well. She had a difficult time getting to sleep, and woke up once shortly after falling asleep. After that she slept until 6:00am. She ate and went back down for another hour or so. This is better than she normally sleeps. We went in to check on her several times during the night, and I just couldn't believe she was still asleep. She cried out several times throughout the night but always settled herself down. Tonight she went to bed very easily and only cried out several times. I am truly amazed at how well the evenings have gone so far. I know we have just begun so it could change, but we were warned that the first few nights would be the toughest. So far so good! We are so thankful she is adjusting so well and so quickly.

Today was our first public outing in the helmet. We went to Lowes first and the pink helmet caught the attention of several people, but overall it wasn't that bad. Then we went to Wal Mart and turned many heads. I am OK with those who look at her with a surprised and confused look. That is to be expected. After all, it isn't everyday you see a little baby in a pink helmet! It is those people who walk by and notice the helmet and then almost break their neck trying to get a closer look that bother me. Really, it just isn't polite to stare! There was one really sweet little girl who was talking to Morgan and making her laugh. As we were strolling off the little girl said, "She has a pretty pink helmet". I said, "thank you" and then her father looked so embarrassed and shhhed the little girl. It is funny how adults get very uncomfortable when they see her, but children just simply ask why she is wearing it and then go on about their business. I am sure we will get use to people starring and asking questions.

Pretty in Pink

We left bright and early yesterday morning. We arrived about an hour before our scheduled appointment so Will decided to call and see if they could get us in early. Praise God because we got in at 12:30pm. and that means we were able to head home early! The appointment went basically like this. First they properly fit the foam lining of her helmet to her head. They had to make several adjustments as well as cut out the holes for her ears and face. She did well during that part. We then left for about 2 hours while they fit the lining to the outer shell. When we arrived back it was time to practice putting the helmet on and off. This was not Morgan's favorite activity! She cried a lot as we were learning to correctly put it on and take it off, over and over again. It is much harder to put on than I had thought it would be. I am sure it will get easier with practice. We left the appointment with Morgan in her pink helmet. She looks like a little football player.... a cute football player! She wore the helmet for an hour on and an hour off for the remainder of the evening. Overall, she did really well on the ride home. Last night she was able to sleep with out it and first thing this morning it went back on. She had a hard time taking a nap this morning but for the most part she is adjusting well. She will wear it through out today with 30 minute breaks every hour or two. Tonight she will sleep wearing it and then from that point on she will be dressed in pink 23 hours a day. We pray that she will sleep well! I am sure it will take some time for all of us to adjust.



This is Morgan "getting to know her helmet". She really loved it and didn't like it when her Daddy took it from her. She started to cry. It was pretty cute. She loved it until we actually had to put it on her.


This was Morgan on the ride home wearing her helmet for the first time.



Avery wanted to wear her helmet this morning as soon as she woke up. This is the bike helmet she got for Christmas last year from Uncle Paul and Aunt Candice! Avery is enjoying having a helmet like her little sisters!



And here she is, pretty in pink!

Ready or Not...

Well, ready or not, tomorrow is the day. Morgan will be getting her long awaited pink helmet tomorrow afternoon. I think at this point we are just ready to get it over with. It has been an emotional day preparing for what is to come. I think I must have kissed her little head a hundred times today. It is going to be hard to see her in the helmet around the clock. I am sure that tomorrow will be a long and draining day. The appointment is scheduled to last for 3 hours. They will finish fitting the helmet to her head and make any adjustments needed. We will also be learning how to clean the helmet and how to properly put it on and take it off. I am sure we will be suffering from information overload by this time tomorrow. We will enter a post as soon as we can letting everyone know how she did. I will also try to post a picture as soon as possible. I know everyone is wondering what this helmet is going to look like.
I have been overwhelmed by the response of those within our church to our current situation. We have been blessed by many prayers, calls, cards, gifts, and even meals over the past week. I have not been on this side of service very many times in my life. It has been a very humbling and rewarding experience. God has used those who have so graciously served us in one way or another to remind me of His continued care for us. Will has been teaching on the book of Jonah with the Youth on Sunday nights and it has caused me to think of this time in a different light. We are all faced with storms of all sizes in our lives but, what matters is how we respond to the storm. I am learning to rely on God for strength and to trust in him with the future. Some days are harder than others but I hope I will come out of this storm praising God for all he has taught me.

Before Pictures

Here are a few "before" photos of Morgan's head. It is harder to see the flat areas in pictures, but you will get the main idea. We look forward to posting after pictures one day soon. I hope these pictures will be helpful to those families who have been visiting our blog who are trying to decide if a helmet is the right choice for their child.

Preparing Her Sweet Little Head

We were told that we should try to keep a hat or something on Morgan's head to help her adjust to soon having to wear the helmet 23 hours a day. She has been great about keeping the hats on. She doens't seem to even notice. I am feeling pretty confident that she will adjust well to the helmet after watching her play dress up with Avery. Avery spent the evening putting bunny ears, princess crowns, hats, and butterfly wings on Morgan's head. Morgan just laughed and didn't seem to care if they were on her head or not. She is very laid back. Here are a few pictures of them playing dress up together.

physical therapy apointment today

Morgan saw Mrs. Karen, her Physical Therapist, today. Morgan is doing great, and seems to have corrected the problem of favoring one side of her body over the other. We will continue to go to therapy to work on strengthening the muscles in her neck from the Torticollis. Our next appointment will be after she gets her Helmet. We don't know if the helmet will help this issue or make it worse. At this time we will just have to wait and see.

In addition to Morgan doing so well in therapy, another wonderful thing happened. We found out, after being on the waiting list since last May, Avery got in preschool today! What an answered prayer. I think Avery will really benefit from having this time for just her. Lately, she has had a hard time sharing the all the attention with Morgan. Unfortunately with all that is going on, the spot light seems to have been on Morgan a little too much. I think Avery has enjoyed me making a fuss over her today. We have spent a lot of time talking about preschool and all of the new friends she will make. Avery will be in school two days a week. We are very excited for Avery and I know she is going to love preschool. Thursday will be her first day, and she can't wait.
That is all the updates we have for now.
P.S.- It snowed today! I know that has nothing to do with Morgan's helmet but it just needed to be said! This was Morgan's first real snow.

How our pink helmet journey began...

When Morgan was 7 weeks old I noticed a spot on the back of her head that just didn't feel right to me. At her two month well check appointment I mentioned it to the pediatrician. He assured me this was normal in infants and as she started moving around more it would round out. However as Morgan got older the back of her began to flatten out on the back of her right side. I mentioned it at each of her appointments but was always assured that it would round out as she became more active. In October we requested to see a specialist, but after talking with our pediatricians we felt that wasn't really necessary. Yet, over the next two months we became more and more concerned with the flatness. In November we once again asked to be referred to a specialist. And as a result, the first of December we had an appointment to see a pediatric physical therapist. She has been an answer to our prayers. She noticed that Morgan had a mild case of torticollis. Basically torticollis is a tightening of the muscles in an infants neck. Some babies are born with this and through physical therapy it can be corrected. The torticollis may have caused the flatness on her head due to her favoring one side of her body over the other. She preferred to lie on one side verses the other. She preferred to use one arm over the other and rolled in one direction over the other.
We have met with the therapist several times now and we have seen much improvement. We have stretches that we do on her neck several times a day and activities that we do to encourage her to roll both directions as well as reach and grasp things with both arms. Our Physical Therapist recommended that we get a 3-D cat scan of Morgan's head to confirm that her sutures were still open allowing the skull to continue to grow. She also referred us to Dr. Kelly the director of the Craniofacial Surgery Center at Vanderbilt Medical Center. We had the cat scan done in mid December- which was a very emotionally draining day. Morgan had to be sedated during the scan to insure that she was perfectly still, and she did great but it was very hard to see her in that type of situation.
Our appointment with Dr. Kelly was on January 3rd. He reviewed the scan and assured us that her sutures are still open and her head is continuing to grow. Big Praise!!!! He confirmed the flatness in her head and recommended helmet therapy to correct the flat areas and to prevent her forehead from shifting and causing her eyes and ears to eventually become off set. Dr. Kelly told us that at this point it has improved on its own as much as it can it due to the torticollis it will probably only worsen with out the helmet. The helmet is traditionally used to treat children with Plagiocephaly. Plagiocephaly is the flattening of the skull usually related to positional problems or torticollis. Her official diagnosis is Anomolies of the skull and face bone. We are so thankful that we were able to get in to see him and to catch this problem in time.
We left his office and went straight over to the Restorative Health Services office for her casting. We were told that we might have to wait all day and that the casting would be a very emotional process for Morgan and us. Once again Praise God! We only waited for about 2 hours and Morgan was great during her casting. The casting takes about 15 minutes once it begins. They put a stocking over her head and then cut out the face. Then they applied very messy strips of plaster one at a time until her head was covered. Once it hardened they removed the cast and we were left with one messy little girl. She just set there and smiled. The only time she fussed was when we were finished and had to clean her off. She was amazing and it was very evident to us that God was in control of that day from the beginning to the end. Morgan will be wearing a cranial helmet. A common question is will the helmet apply pressure to her head and cause discomfort. A very MINIMAL amount of pressure will be applied. In this practice they do not modify the positive mold taken of her head so that the helmet will "squeeze" the high points of her head. Instead they create "relief" in the desired areas and allow the natural growth of the cranial bones to take over. Morgan will be wearing her pretty new PINK helmet 23 hours a day for 3 to 4 months. Every few hours we will have to take the helmet off to allow the skin time to breath and check for any skin irritations. She will learn to eat, sleep, and play in her helmet. Some people have asked, "Why Pink?". We were given several color options including yellow, green, and white but Will and I both agreed that she needed to be girly. So, why not Pink?
Will and I are both overwhelmed by the amount of support we have received from family and friends since announcing that Morgan would be needing this treatment. We are very thankful and blessed by your friendships and your prayers for Morgan and our family. We will be traveling back to Nashville on the 18Th to pick up her helmet. The first 48 hours will be scheduled to allow her time to adjust and after that she will start the 23 hours a day routine. After a brief time we pray this will just become a part of our "normal" life and we will all be use to the changes it will bring.
We will keep this blog updated as a way of keeping everyone informed about her progress. We will be taking Morgan to Vanderbilt once a month for the next 3 to 4 months. At this time we ask you to pray for the adjustment process for us all. We would also simply pray that this works. In the very small 5% chance the helmet therapy does not work Morgan would need surgery to correct the shifting and flattening of her skull to prevent any facial problems later on. We are resting on our assurance that God is in control. He has already been with us every step of the way and we know that he will continue to walk along side of us.
Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, Plans to give you a hope and a future.
I am sorry for the long post but wanted to update you on where we are at this time and how we got here.