Helmet Changes

Today was a LONG day. Santiago and I started the day by leaving the house with Grandma Linda and Grandpa Hector for lunch at Olive Garden where we had delicious soup and salad. Then we headed off to two doctor appointments - one with Dr. T for a post-op checkup and the other with Dynamic Orthotics for a helmet check. Dr. T wanted to see Santiago in his helmet to make sure it was fitted properly and he was not happy. I knew the helmet was a little loose because it slid around some on Santi's head when he moved and laid on it. Dr. T called the orthotist to tell him what he wanted changed and asked us to come back next Tuesday so he could make sure the helmet was right after changes were made. He said if they cannot fix the helmet, they would have to make us a new one - hopefully we don't have to do that. So we went to Dynamics and it took about two hours for them to make the helmet fit better. They had to add a piece to the back of the inside of the helmet, shave some of the inside of the front of the helmet off and shape the helmet around the ears better. Basically it needs to be tighter to apply pressure in all areas of the head except Santi's forehead on the right side. There needs to be room there for his forehead to be pushed out to make it more round and symmetrical. The orthotist was very impressed with the growth that has already happened since we were first scanned for our helmet 3 weeks ago. His head has rounded out a lot in the back and his forehead has also come out some. He scanned Santiago's head again so we were able to see the changes on the computer. It is very impressive that a baby's skull is so malleable and it can be shaped and fixed when there is problem. So even though our helmet wasn't fitted properly it has already made a difference! We are off to a good start! We will go back next Tuesday to see Dr. T to see if he is happy with the changes to the helmet and back to Dynamics for another helmet adjustment. We will be making frequent trips for helmet adjustments from here on out - every 1 to 2 weeks is the plan. We ended our long day by meeting Hector at Pappasito's for dinner. Then we finally headed home. We were gone from noon until 8:00 at night. Santiago was very tired - he ate his dinner and then went straight to sleep.

I forgot to mention that they weighed and measured Santiago today at Dr. T's office. Our boy now weighs 15 pounds 4 ounces and is 25 inches long!