Just to be on the safe side, I called in the morning to MAKE ABSOLUTELY SURE they 1) had the helmet and 2) it was the right one. They couldn’t check it at that exact moment (from the gist of the conversation, it seems only the specialist can open the box?). But I was assured it would be double-checked as soon as he was free, and we would get a call if there was a problem. We didn’t get a call, so it was off to Livonia to try on the helmet and get it fitted! Tom was able to go, so I was happy about that.
Our “substitute” specialist was nice, but it will be good to see our regular guy again (I am sure they are both equally qualified, but the guy we saw today made sure we know they do things a little differently from one another).
So without further ado…here’s Owen the first time he tried the helmet on:
Making the marks of where to cut it out for his ears and around his face:
The burp cloth is there because he just ate, hadn’t burped, and we wanted to be prepared. Oh, and still making marks and checking the fit:
Just one of those cute baby faces we didn’t know we got until we looked at the pics afterward. It just makes me laugh…because he really wasn’t uncomfortable or upset or anything:
TA DA!
On the way home…since it was past nap time, he was out in a few minutes. But isn’t he cute?
He only had the helmet on for 45 minutes (it takes 5 days to work up to the 23 hours a day thing) and look how sweaty his head is! I can’t FATHOM what it will be after 23 hours! Hoo boy. And they said after a while, there’s no real way to clean it. Lordy.
So, the first day he has to wear it one hour, then off an hour, then on an hour, etc., and no naps or nighttime. The next day, it’s two hours on/one hour off with no naps or nighttime. The third day it’s four hours on/one hour off but then including naps and nighttime. Day four is eight hours on/one hour off plus naps and nighttime. And then day 5 we jump to wearing it 23 hours. We only get to take it off for an hour to bathe him and let the helmet air out. (Although, he did say we could take it off for like 15 minutes here and there throughout the day to dry his head and let it air out IF he’s truly a big sweater. We assured him he IS. I really don’t think they believe us. Oh, and there are holes in the back of the helmet, but it’s not for air flow—it’s so they can look in and check how his head is fitting. They guy assured us that more holes did NOT help with air flow.)
I think this helmet it going to be WAY STINKY in a month or so, considering how much the boy sweats. I mean, seriously. His head sweats just laying on your arm for a 15 minute feeding! And his hair was soaked from just the 45 minutes he wore it on the way home! It can be cleaned, but not REALLY cleaned—they say you can wipe it out with rubbing alcohol or try to get rid of any smells with nail polish remover. You aren’t supposed to put powder in it and you can’t use Febreeze or anything chemical because it’s touching his head and could cause an allergic reaction.
It’s also going to be a challenge for the next few days—as it’s nearly impossible for one person to manage the helmet alone. It takes two hands to open it/put it on…so it really is necessary to have someone hold the boy while the other person puts it on. If he would sit on his own (which he can almost do, but not well enough to sit STILL for helmet placement) it would be doable. At least it’s the weekend and Tom will be around for the most part, and by next week maybe I will have mastered the art of baby wrangling with my legs so I can put the helmet on alone.
The worst part of the day was that he missed his 1pm and 3pm naps—he had about a 30 minute catnap on the way there and back, but anything less than an hour doesn’t count as a NAP (according to my sleep expert book!)…so he’s extremely cranky at the moment not wanting to sleep but desperately needing to.
Wait.
The mobile has stopped and I only hear ever-so-faint whimpering and heavy breathing. I think he’s finally out. Phew.
Oh crap.
He sneezed and woke himself up. Now he’s fussy and screeching again. DAMMIT.
Anyhoo…I still can’t fathom him having to wear this for the next X number of months. We asked when he will have to be rescanned (to see how much his head has changed shape) and we were told maybe at eight weeks or maybe not until 16 weeks since we should be able to tell just by looking at him. Eight weeks? 16 weeks? Logically I know it’s going to be that long—but actually hearing it out loud was another story. SIXTEEN WEEKS….FOUR MONTHS. That’s a long time. 🙁
That said, they said we might be able to see some changes within 2-3 weeks, so I’m really looking forward to that and hoping we do…just so I can SEE it working.
We do, however, have to go back for bi-weekly checkups. Except for the first one, which they like to schedule for one week. Unfortunately our guy still won’t be back from vacation, so that means we either get a SECOND new guy if we don’t want to drive to Livonia—or we get to see the same guy we saw today, but we have to drive the distance to Livonia. GRRRR.
P.S. It’s now 5:21 and someone STILL isn’t asleep. And he’s been fed AND changed. Hoo boy. He needs to sleep so we can get the helmet on him again for a bit tonight before he has to go to bed!
CUTE as a bug! Even cuter than that! Hopefully the time will go by quickly and you won’t even give it a second thought. Like putting on a diaper!