100% !!!!

We heard the final word today from our insurance company. They will be covering 100% of Morgan's helmet therapy and visits to the specialist!!!!!!!! We are so happy. We will now be working on the reimbursement process. Hopefully this part will go smoothly. We are so thankful this prayer was answered.
On a different note... Morgan did great at therapy today. She is really starting to correct some of her issues. We will continue to go every week for a while.

Good things come in small packages!!!!!

I love being able to post good news! Usually going to the mail box isn't that exciting, but today was different. We got a letter from our insurance company stating in BOLD print, "you have been approved for coverage..." This is such an answered prayer. For those who don't know, we were told Morgan's helmet and the cost for visits to the specialist would not be covered. The specialist actually won't even file the claim for you, because it is just not covered by insurance. Well, prayers are answered. We don't know at this time if all of it will be covered or just the part for the specialist, which would be about half. Will is going to talk to the insurance company tomorrow to get more information. We will continue to pray for complete coverage, but we will be thankful for any coverage at this point. I honestly wasn't expecting to have any of it covered. I am in shock and I don't know why. I should have just trusted that God would take care of our needs as he always has. Praise God! We will keep you posted on how this turns out. Yea for small packages in the mail!

Making Progress

So much has happened since my last entry. I will try to keep it as brief as possible. We went back to Vanderbilt this week and saw Dr. Kelly. He said that Morgan was making some improvement! He sent us over to have her helmet adjusted. They removed a layer of the lining from the back. Hopefully over the next four weeks we will really start to see her head start to reshape. So far it has only been a subtle change. The appointment went very quickly and Morgan of course did great! We have really been hoping Morgan would only have to wear the helmet for 3 months, but Dr. Kelly told us we would probably be looking at four months. That was disappointing to hear. We are going to keep praying for 3 months anyway! Here are some pictures of her in her helmet. We put new stickers on it this week. We think it is pretty cute.


Today we had a physical therapy appointment. Morgan seems to be sitting much straighter which means she is not holding one hip higher than the other anymore. YEA Morgan! On the down side she still wants to use her right hand more than the other. This unfortunately affects the way she crawls, sits up and props. You can see in the above picture her right arm and hand have been wrapped in an ace bandage. This is to encourage her to use the other arm and hand. Of course when her physical therapist wrapped her up today Morgan just set there.Tonight when I tried to wrap her she acted like I was causing her pain. After several tries I got it wrapped and she did great. We played with her bowling set and she rolled the ball with her left hand successfully!!!!! After I removed the wrap she rolled the ball with both hands. Mission accomplished. We will wrap her arm and hand twice a day during our structured play time. We will go back next week to see the therapist and see what happens from there. I look forward to the day when I can sit down with Morgan and play and not have to worry about which arm she is using or which way she is rolling and just enjoy being with her. Today, that day seems so far away.

Missing Her Little Head

We are almost to the one month mark! It is hard to believe Morgan has been in her helmet for that long already. We have two to three more months to go. Hopefully no longer! She really is doing amazingly well. We are the ones who are still adjusting to life with the helmet. Lately, I have really been missing her sweet little head. We take the helmet off for a few minutes every morning and then again at bedtime long enough to give her a bath. I try to enjoy every second of those short moments. I love to cuddle with her when her helmet is off. Her sweet hugs just aren't' the same when a large helmet is knocking you in the face. I want to enjoy the last few months of her being a baby so badly. Unfortunately, I find myself just wanting to fast forward time a few months from now so this will all be over with. I know in just a short time I will be back to kissing her head and shopping for cute hair bows but it is often hard to keep that in mind. For now, I will just have to adjust to her little pink helmet hugs.

We are back to "normal"

Morgan is FINALLY over her chickenpox. She is no longer contagious. It will be a while before all the spots are gone but, at this point we are just happy they have all dried up. Today was her first day out of the house and I think she was happy to have some new scenery. We were both excited to see a little snow falling as well.
Morgan had her 9 month check up and the Dr. said she is doing great! We also saw the physical therapist today and Morgan got quite a work out. She hasn't made that much improvement since her last appointment. I think the chickenpox slowed us down a little. She wasn't interested in me stretching her neck or doing any of the other activities, we are suppose to be doing, while she was sick. Hopefully, now that she is better, we will start moving forward again.
Morgan has now had her helmet on for about 3 1/2 weeks and we are so happy with how much her head has already improved. We really didn't expect to see such a major change so early. I think this should be credited to all of the prayers being said on her behalf. We are looking forward to her next appointment in Nashville in just 2 weeks.

Helpful Web Sites

I thought I would post a few websites that have been helpful to me in learning more about plagio and torticollis.
http://www.petitiononline.com/0799/petition.html If you feel comfortable, please check out this link and sign the petition. Basically this petition is to make it mandatory for pediatricians to educate parents on positional plagio and tummy time. It is sad that doctors don’t talk about tummy time enough. We know that Morgan’s plagio is not related to spending to much time on her back, but I also know that I was never told about tummy time. Thankfully I had read about tummy time and both of my girls spent plenty of time playing on their tummies. Doctors should not assume we already know things when it comes to the health of our children.
http://www.cafepress.com/preciousbambino/114453 This site is really fun. They carry onesies, bibs, t-shirts and parent shirt that say things about the helmet, plagio or torticollis. My favorite shirt sayings: This is not a helmet it is a fashion statement, Toitilly Cute, Plagio Princess,
http://www.nightform.com/SoftContent/how.aspx Another site I would have LOVED to have known about 9 months ago. They actually make a mattress that will prevent positional plagio! WOW
http://www.torticolliskids.org This site explains torticollis well and also provides great information on treatment.
http://www.plagiocephaly.org/
http://headsupbaby.com/ This site provides information on how to reposition your child early on to prevent and possibly help correct positional plagio. I wish this information had been given to me when Morgan was first born and we noticed the problem. Unfortunately for Morgan repositioning can only help so much due to the torticollis. Every little bit helps though!

I hope these sites are helpful for those who have been emailing us or visiting our blog looking for answers and support.