Front Page Star!!

March 5, 2005

! is soooo beautiful! Can't wait to hear your story

again.

Natasha

--- In Plagiocephaly , " stripes6060 " <taime@o...>

wrote:

>

> Hi,

> The front page star for the next 2 weeks is Heahter!

> ,

> When you get a chance please share your story with us.

> Thanks,

>

March 5, 2005

! is soooo beautiful! Can't wait to hear your story

again.

Natasha

--- In Plagiocephaly , " stripes6060 " <taime@o...>

wrote:

>

> Hi,

> The front page star for the next 2 weeks is Heahter!

> ,

> When you get a chance please share your story with us.

> Thanks,

>

March 5, 2005

What a cutie. Can't wait to read up on the progress.

sandy Willow's Mom

--- In Plagiocephaly , " stripes6060 " <taime@o...>

wrote:

>

> Hi,

> The front page star for the next 2 weeks is Heahter!

> ,

> When you get a chance please share your story with us.

> Thanks,

>

March 5, 2005

What a cutie. Can't wait to read up on the progress.

sandy Willow's Mom

--- In Plagiocephaly , " stripes6060 " <taime@o...>

wrote:

>

> Hi,

> The front page star for the next 2 weeks is Heahter!

> ,

> When you get a chance please share your story with us.

> Thanks,

>

March 5, 2005

,

What a cutie, she is so precious.

--- In Plagiocephaly , " stripes6060 " <taime@o...>

wrote:

>

> Hi,

> The front page star for the next 2 weeks is Heahter!

> ,

> When you get a chance please share your story with us.

> Thanks,

>

March 5, 2005

,

What a cutie, she is so precious.

--- In Plagiocephaly , " stripes6060 " <taime@o...>

wrote:

>

> Hi,

> The front page star for the next 2 weeks is Heahter!

> ,

> When you get a chance please share your story with us.

> Thanks,

>

March 5, 2005

,

is adorable!!!

mom to na

DOC Grad

South Carolina

www.thefilyaws.com

stripes6060 <taime@...> wrote:

Hi,The front page star for the next 2 weeks is Heahter! ,When you get a chance please share your story with us.Thanks,For more plagio info

March 5, 2005

,

is adorable!!!

mom to na

DOC Grad

South Carolina

www.thefilyaws.com

stripes6060 <taime@...> wrote:

Hi,The front page star for the next 2 weeks is Heahter! ,When you get a chance please share your story with us.Thanks,For more plagio info

March 6, 2005

ANgela, is just plain beautiful! Becky, mom to , repo

grad in Pgh, PA

--- In Plagiocephaly , " stripes6060 " <taime@o...>

wrote:

>

> Hi,

> The front page star for the next 2 weeks is Heahter!

> ,

> When you get a chance please share your story with us.

> Thanks,

>

March 6, 2005

ANgela, is just plain beautiful! Becky, mom to , repo

grad in Pgh, PA

--- In Plagiocephaly , " stripes6060 " <taime@o...>

wrote:

>

> Hi,

> The front page star for the next 2 weeks is Heahter!

> ,

> When you get a chance please share your story with us.

> Thanks,

>

April 1, 2005

What a cute picture!!!

mom to na

DOC Grad

South Carolina

www.thefilyaws.com

stripes6060 <taime@...> wrote:

Hi All,The Front Page Star for the next 2 weeks is Connor! , When you get a chance please share your story with us.Thanks,For more plagio info

April 1, 2005

What a cute picture!!!

mom to na

DOC Grad

South Carolina

www.thefilyaws.com

stripes6060 <taime@...> wrote:

Hi All,The Front Page Star for the next 2 weeks is Connor! , When you get a chance please share your story with us.Thanks,For more plagio info

May 10, 2005

Sue! He is adorable, especially the dimples!

Natasha

> Hi All,

> The Front Page Star for the next 2 weeks is Colin!!

> Sue, when you get a chance please share your story w/us.

> Thanks,

>

May 10, 2005

Sue! He is adorable, especially the dimples!

Natasha

> Hi All,

> The Front Page Star for the next 2 weeks is Colin!!

> Sue, when you get a chance please share your story w/us.

> Thanks,

>

June 23, 2005

OK But it's a long one,lol.

Dominick was born in September 2004. Dominick is my fourth baby and

my sixth pregnancy, so I had some muscle weakness and had to wear a

maternity belt to help support my uterus. I felt like he was sitting

down low right from the start. At about 26 weeks when I woke up on

the morning of my 40th birthday in tremendous pain. I went to the

hospital thinking the worst, only to find out he was fine, but I had

a gallstone lodged in my bile duct. Like turning 40 wasn't bad

enough! They hospitalized me and gave me pain meds until I was lucky

enough to have the stone move back off the duct. Because I was past

the safe time period for sugery I had to wait until after delivery to

have the gallbladder removed. This meant a strict no fat diet, and

many days spent sick and in pain. I lost wieght every week I went to

my OB, it would kill me to get on the scale. I was so afraid for

Dominick. I ended up wieghing 3 lbs less at delivery then when I

found out I was pregnant. The day finally came when they could safely

induce labor. I went in at 7:30am and they started my pitocin at

8:00am, Dominick came into the world at 12:50pm after a normal labor

and delivery. There he was our little boy! He was perfect, but very

small and skinny for what I was used to, he weighed 6lbs 6oz and was

only 18 1/2 inches long. I guess my weightloss did affect him. We

noticed his headshape at birth, but no one seemed concerned including

my husband and I. Babies heads usually round out after a week or so.

Well Dom's didn't.

By two months we were getting worried and I began to change his

sleeping position. His head was getting worse. I tried and tried to

keep him off his flat spot. We bought every wedge and pillow out

there, but nothing kept Dominick from his favorite position. At three

months I began to notice the head control we were so amazed with

early on was dissappearing. He was no longer able to turn his head to

the right and preferred to look only to the right.The same way he

laid every night in his crib. It was a rare occasion if we could

interest him enough to look forward. . I remember looking at the

Christmas picture of him and thinking what a cute pose he's in, only

to find out that was the way his head sat because he couldn't hold it

any other way. By the time we were approaching the 4 month mark I was

beside myself. What was wrong with my baby. He couldn't roll either

direction, his left side seemed weak and his head was getting so bad.

We kept saying there was something off about his face, but we

couldn't put a finger on what was wrong with it. His forehead seemed

to be pushed forward on the left side.It was time for something

serious to be done.

We began searching for answers on the internet. I went to the AAP

website and typed in " Why is my baby's head flat? " , and there it

was. PLAGIOCEPHALY. Possible causes,back sleeping. Weren't these the

same people who told me to sleep him that way to begin with? OK, Now

I'm mad! How come no one told me about this?Why wasn't I informed at

the hospital? We came home from the hospital with everything from

stickers to bookmarks with " Back To Sleep " on them, where was the

info. on this? I began reading what little info. was on the AAP site

about it and they talked about a banding treatment. Then it hit me!

My sister in law's little boy had a band that he wore because his

head was mishaped. I talked with her about it and she gave me the

website for Cranial Technologies.

The Cranial Technologies website was a wealth of information. It even

had assessment charts to see how bad he might be. I did the

assessment and came up with a severe rating, I kind of knew that

would happen. His head looked like someone put a bike helmet on him

sideways by now. I researched the whole idea of treatment and looked

all my options, there were not many. I came to the conclusion that in

order for him to get the kind of treatment I wanted Cranial

Technologies was the place I wanted to go. Thank goodness they had a

clinic in Virginia. I called for a consult and was told my

pediatrician would have to write me a prescription to be seen.

Unfortunately they said this was not always easy as some peds. are

not educated about plagiocephaly and some still believed that it will

go away on it's own. I prepared to fight. I copied all the info from

the CT website and brought it to my peds. office. She looked through

it all and checked his head and to my surprise said here's your

script. I left her the folder of info. and assessment charts to keep

for her office in hopes that she would spread the word. Now we just

wait for his evaluation.

In January we took Dominick to Cranial Technologies in

ndale,Virginia to be evaluated for treatment. We were told his

plagiocephaly was very severe, he had some facial asymmetry, and his

ears were severely misaligned. They recommended we band him as soon

as possible and look into physical therapy for his neck weakness.

Cranial Technologies sent all the paperwork to our insurance and we

waited for precertification from them. After many phone calls to all

parties involved over a period of several weeks, we finally got

approval from insurance .Thank God they approved when they did,

because he was getting worse by the week.

While we waited for insurance we contacted Early Intervention for

help with his neck and muscle issues. He was evaluated in January and

found to be two months behind in gross motor skills( he could not

roll either direction,etc) along with weak and/or stiff muscles in

his back, hips,abdomen and legs. The therapist said it wasn't truly

torticollis( he did not have the injury or classic tilt), but was a

muscle imbalance caused by the severe plagio. He simply could not

move off the flat area of his head. He could not hardly move himself

at all anymore. When you held him he felt stiff, except for his head

which was extremely floppy for his age. The treatment was very

similar to the treatment for torticollis with some added stuff for

the other muscles involved.They assigned a physical therapist to

Dominick every two weeks. Our first pt session went well and I was

taught all the basic stretches and exercises to do. It would be up to

me to handle pt on a daily basis. Our therapist, Marcy, was wonderful

and Dominick really loved her. I knew I had the plagio treatment

started, but if he was going to have a normal life I had alot of hard

work ahead of me. I did stretches at every diaper change and a full

therapy session everyday. We held him differently and played with him

in ways to encourage neck movement. Tummy time was a must after every

nap. I saw excellent progress in his range of motion within a few

weeks.

On February 2nd, 2005 Dominick was casted for his first Doc Band. I

was so worried that he would cry and scream and it would be so hard

on him. I was sooo wrong. The process started with a stockingette

covering his face and head. They cut holes for his mouth and nose and

marked out eyes and ears. We had a bottle ready for him to drink when

they started the plaster on the front. He laid there perfectly

content drinking his bottle. Then came the back. He could not drink

his bottle during this part, so we gave him his pacifier. Daddy

helped keep his arms down, while I helped support his head and they

finished up the back. Slowly the cast was removed and the final

touches put on. The whole process only took about 15 minutes. After

casting we gave him a bath and got him dressed. They said the cast

would be shipped to Arizona that day and we should allow ten days for

his band to be made and shipped back.

On February 9th,2005 I received a call from CT saying his band was in

early and could I come to get him fitted tomorrow. I wasn't about to

say no. So on February10th,2005 we went to get fitted for his first

Doc Band he was 5 months old. We drive two hours one way to get to

the clinic, so we had to prepare to be there at least an hour and a

half to be sure the fit was correct. When they brought his band in, a

feeling of sadness came over me. He seemed so little to have to be

put through this. My eyes welled up with tears as I watched them

place the band on his little head. Once they let go of his head he

didn't even care that it was there. He looked at me and I could do

nothing, but smile because he just looked so darn cute in his new

band. A few adjustments were made, care instructions given and we

were on our way home.

Our first afternoon with the band was spent doing three hour skin

checks, to make sure there were no problem areas. He didn't seem to

mind that the band was even there. Because the afternoon went well he

would be allowed to sleep in it. We thought this would be the real

test. Again we were wrong, he slept great, it almost seemd like he

was more comfortable than before. Aside from a red spot from me

tightening the band strap(a big no no) that we had to wait out he was

wearing his Doc Band 23 hours a day by day three. It took some

getting used to at first. It was hard not to be able to snuggle

against his soft head and I gave myself a few fat lips, but all in

all it was very easy to get into a routine.

We had our first appointment a week after getting fitted. I couldn't

believe it, progress already. He had to have some adjustments made

and we set up for the following week. Week two in the band and again

more progress. Dominick consistently filled in all the growth room he

was given every week. We were thrilled and amazed at how fast his

progress was.

This went on for five weeks and then the band was beginning to get

thin. We started paperwork to get approval for a second band. Most

babies only need one, but he was growing so fast and his was such a

severe case we would need two. At seven and a half weeks Dominick

outgrew his first Doc Band, but the correction to his headshape was

incredible. The only thing we didn't get was ear correction. Ears are

the hardest to move and usually the last things to change. He still

had quite a bit of rounding to do, so we were not surprised about his

ears. Insurance was once again slow to respond so he had to go

without his band for a little over two weeks.

We were continuing to do physical therapy on a daily basis. The

funny thing was, that after having his band on for a few days he

started rolling his head back and forth all the time. He spent almost

one whole day doing this, I was getting worried, and then I realized,

he had learned that he could move his head because of the round band.

It was within two weeks of receiving his Doc Band that Dominick was

rolling over in both directions. His therapist was so impressed with

him and the benefit of the band. Dominick was her first banded baby.

I worked really hard at his therapy, some days it seemed like that

was all I was doing. I knew that if I wanted results I had to stick

with it. Well it was all starting to pay off, he had a June goal of

being able to sit up unassisted and he met that in April. He was now

getting up on all fours and rocking.

On April 12th,2005 Dominick was casted for Doc Band #2. He was a

little bigger now, so he put up a bit of a protest, but nothing too

bad. Again it was over quickly and it was all a memory by the time

bath was over. This time we had to wait two weeks for the band to

come in. On April 26th,2005 Dominick was fitted for Doc Band #2 he

was 7 months old. Our appointments would now be every two weeks

because his growth would slow as he got older. We had our first

appointment two weeks in and for the first time he didn't fill his

growth areas completely. He did however still have improvement, and

that's what matters. He has been in Band #2 for two months and still

makes progress with each visit, just not quite as drastic.We are now

facing our final dilemma, will he need a third band or not.

LOVE TO ALL ON THIS SITE AND GREASTEST THANKS FROM ME AND DOMINICK!

--- In Plagiocephaly , " stripes6060 " <taime@o...>

wrote:

> Hi All,

> The Front Page Star for the next 2 weeks is DOMINICK!!

> Carol,

> When you get a chance please share your story w/us.

> Thanks,

>

June 23, 2005