Ive Decided to Keep Blogging

I enjoy writing. I like how it makes me feel. So ive decided to keep blogging.

You can find me at http://sunshineapocalypse.blogspot.com.au/

Hope to see you there. xx

A Graduation Tribute!!

Caitlyn Elizabeth McLean....

Congratulations!! You are officially helmet free...for good.....forever and ever more!!!

Friday week, on the 27th of November Caitlyn wore her helmet for the last time.

It also marked her turning 8 months old and it was the day before our first holiday as a family of four!! What a relief it was that she could experience it all, each and every part of it. Even the part where she has figured out it hurts like allgetup to fall over onto tiles without a helmet on...OUCH.

Each morning and each night we went for a walk on the beach and she laughed and kicked and waved her arms about in that Baby Bjorn like a mad women. She loved feeling that wind whip her hair around.

But what her mama loves is this........

 

Seeing this amazing little girl sleep peacefully, unencumbered for the first time in so long. Being able to stroke that sweet little head, nursing her in the crook of my arm without bits digging in, having her nestle her head on my shoulder and not smash my face with a helmet. Not having a head that smells like a sweaty gym sock.

Don't get me wrong, Caitlyn isn't the best sleeper, nor is she the easiest going baby in the world, she isn't overly snuggly and doesn't like to be held too tight or too much and she has allergies that are frustrating me no end. But, walking along that beach with the wind in her hair, watching her brother run and jump and chase birds, she would laugh so hard that she would snort and its those moments that make all this worth while.

In 3 short months we went from this....

 

 

To this....

 

 

And Finally to this...

 



I couldn't be more pleased how this all turned out. The anxiety you feel at first quickly washes away. It becomes a just another part of each day. In saying that, I am so grateful though that this little journey has come to an end.

I know that when we are out and about now, if people smile at her or watch her, its for no other reason than just being Caitlyn and that its not about her helmet.

So it will now go to the back of the cupboard as a keepsake and reminder. Maybe one day she will ask about it. That tiny little butterfly helmet that has made things so much easier for her now as she grows. 

xxoo

So Close I can taste It.

Just a quick update.

Friday was a day of so many things but first and foremost it was another helmet review.

After 11, almost 12 weeks of helmet wearing our wonderful Dr Charl at GB Orthopaedics has given us the ok to go ahead and start weaning Miss C off her helmet!! He gave that mostly round little noggin of hers two thumbs up and said he never needs to see us again! Ive never been more pleased to hear that in my life!

We are allowed to go helmet free during the day but need to wear the helmet at night for the next two weeks to give Caitlyn time to adjust to not having it anymore and help her along as much more as we can. Due to the kind of flattening she had and where it was and the fact that it had started to shift a few things out of alignment facially, she will never have a totally round head. But the improvement she has made is absolutely incredible. If you were'nt "in" on everything that had gone on you would never even know, and that is exactly how i want it for her.

Charl said that since she has learnt to crawl and roll about with the helmet she may actually be a bit clumsier and have to get used to the fact that banging your head into the floor without a helmet on really does hurt. But hopefully she will adjust quickly. All things considering she is a pretty resilient little girl. She not the cruisiest critter but when she smiles and laughs she makes my heart melt.

Underneath her helmet is quite a mop of hair so now I'm actually going to have to do something about tying or clipping it back. It was the craziest windiest day on Friday and her hair was blowing every which way. She looked a bit stunned, feeling the wind in her hair and all that.

So in two weeks time we will be fully graduated and i plan to celebrate as such!

8 Week Helmet Review

We had our 8 weeks helmet review this week.

i spent the morning un-psyching myself up. At our last review i was told that is 4 weeks time we may be able to start the weaning off process already.

So i had to keep telling myself, "don't get excited self, as long as its improving, it doesn't matter if we need to wear it for a bit longer." That's a hard idea to get excited about, but i talked myself round to it.

For good reason too it seems.

Our appointment went well. Even ace, perhaps. We saw the big man who puts the G (maybe even the B) in GB Orthopaedics. What an incredibly lovely, intelligent, caring man G is!!! He was very impressed with Miss C's head improvement. In fact he told me that if she turned up with this head 8 weeks ago they would have turned her down for a helmet. i was smiling so hard inside at that point!!!

But then we discussed her age and what a critical growth period her head was in and that although her head is looking good, it is still improving and while we still have the opportunity we should roll with that (well he didn't say roll with it, men like G do not use terms like "roll with it") and continue to let her head grow and fill out the voids in her helmet.

I agree. If another 4 weeks of helmet wearing will continue improving my baby girls head, then I'm all for it. In fact that's a splendid idea.......can we just do it without the helmet. Its starting to get hot and being headbutted by that lil helmeted head is starting to put dents in me. Plus i miss stroking that head of hers.

So we are officially back on for another 4 weeks and we will see where we are at that point.

Here is a before (its the best i could find - but still doesnt do it justice) and current head shots to show the improvement of Miss C's Plagiocephaly.

BEFORE:

 

CURRENTLY: 8 weeks in.

Sneaky Side Eyes

I drove into Brisbane to help my mum run some errands last Friday since her wrist is currently broken. We had to go to a few different shopping centres so by the end of it, it was easier to pop Caitlyn in the baby bjorn pouch and let William walk (they were both very over being in the pram)

I must say i was a little overwhelmed at the amount of side eyes i got. You know the look. Staring whilst trying not to be seen staring.

Now of course this happens all the time, and I'm a'ok with it because, dude, my child is wearing a helmet so of course people will have a looksee. BUT, please don't pretend you aren't looking. Please acknowledge you are checking it out. Nod, smile, talk to me, but please don't quickly jerk your head away and hope i don't notice. That is what is making my "mummy heart" a little bit sad.

Now i cant be cross at anyone who does it. They don't know me, they don't know how ill react. I might get cross if they speak to me. Caitlyn might be really sick. But i wont...and shes not. Id like to teach people about it. I'm happy to answer your questions. I'm happy to smile back at you because my sweet little girl will usually return that smile too if you just be generous enough to give her one.

I think I'm getting far to used to living in a smaller town where everybody smiles at everyone else whether you know them or not, and its not just crazy people to stop and have a chat to someone they don't know. Lol.

Sometimes people are in the same boat and its nice to discuss it with them. Some people just chatter away to Caitlyn without mentioning the helmet. Some people ask exactly what its for and some have far different ways of asking about it!

On seeing my double pram an older lady asked me if it was a special medical pram because of my baby. I thought that was sweet of her to be that concerned.

Another old man asked me if it was life threatening and was very pleased when i exclaimed "oh goodness no!"

All of these ok. I just wanted you all to know that. Heads up though, Mr William is king at sneaky side eyes around here so he may just give you a run for your money!!!

4 Week Helmet Check Up

First of all, i need to apologise for this post being almost a week late. Ive been a bit preoccupied this week. My poor mother broke her wrist the morning of our clinic appointment whilst babysitting my son and then later in the week Miss C had another allergic reaction so it was back off to the Dr's.

So even though i could write a whole post on those two topics alone, i will stick to our 4 week check up!!

Our brilliant Dr Charl, didn't take any measurements as its still quite early on and either way she will need to wear it for at least another month, but visually you can already see the difference. I need to take some photos for comparison and pop them up.

He was really pleased with how much she has progressed and you could even see where her hair was being rubbed a little by the helmet in the new growth areas, so it was pretty exciting.

He also said that if she continues to progress so well, after our 8 week check up we should be able to start weaning her off the helmet already!! SAY WHAT.

We thought it would be approximately 3-4 months minimum. But apparently not, which is really fantastic news.

So i could be looking at this pretty little head of hair for more than an hour a day far sooner than i thought!!!

But shes pretty stinkin cute with it on too

The other thing Dr Charl did was heat up Miss C's helmet and adjust the side wings which had started to be a bit too firm on face due to head growth.

The only unfortunate/frustrating thing that keeps coming up which is hindering this whole process is Caitlyn's allergy to..........something. When she has a reaction i need to give her more helmet breaks so as to not irritate the rash too much. Thankfully due to her wearing the cotton cap under the helmet now there is no damage or broken skin on her wee little head.

We have a few culprits and the Dr thinks its dietary as I'm still breastfeeding and that where the signs are pointing. So I've tried to eliminate what we think may be causing it but i accidentally lapsed and the next day Miss C was all rashed up, so i think I've got it figured out but don't want to congratulate myself too soon. So I'm just being aware and cautious at the moment.

But heres a cute brother sister moment to share before im off - Have a great week!!

Putting A Cap On It.

I talked briefly in my previous post about the fact that the helmet makes Miss C sweat and that we had made a little sweat band to go under the helmet as per the instructions for her helmet.

Miss C has terribly sensitive skin. She gets itchy and dry eczema and if you factor in winter plus a dribbler you get one uncomfortable baby. If you then further add a helmet onto said baby's head which makes her sweat and irritates her already dry, sensitive skin.....you get....well it ain't pretty (even if the overall package of Miss C is incredibly pretty).

The sweat band we originally created was just like a grown up persons sweat band. not very wide and basically sat around the rim of her head. Well that was just silly. The sweat band mopped up the area it covered and left the rest to be irritated.

So we made it wider. This was far far more efficient except that because it is made from a singlet cut across the chest, it was prone to slipping down and again left a very small area to be irritated immensely.

So we went wider again....in the form of a little cotton baby hat, which we cut off the seam band so it sat smoothly on her head. Its perfect!!!!

The irritation in itself was really frustrating because we had gotten through almost 3 weeks without any problems. But due to the weather and the constant sweating there was a slow breakdown and irritation.

But suddenly in the space of two days, those rashes....they were spreading.

This was not just a sweat rash, something else was going on. It was down the backs of her legs, from her chin, down her neck and onto her chest and in her nappy area a bit too.

We went straight off to the Dr. Our very wonderful family Dr looked that baby of mine over from head to toe. No, this was not just a mild sweat rash and sensitive skin issue any longer. My baby had had an allergic reaction.

Dr Maria put her on an oral medication for a few days to help the reaction as it was fairly significant and a cream to rub into the still affected areas for another week. It looked like it was causing her a fair bit of pain too.  But the oral medication worked wonders in those 3 days and now she only has a few small areas of affected skin.

Unfortunately due to bubs age they cant do any tests to see what caused the reaction. It could be environmental or it could be dietary from what shes getting through me. So i have to go on an anti allergen diet, just to be sure. That means cutting out the big reaction foods like eggs, peanuts ( id eaten both of these the 2 days previous to the rash so that is sticking in my head like glue) and preservatives too. But it could be anything. Could be pollen or dust or horse hair.......

Our Dr said that it showed up in her neck and head most because those areas were already affected by the weather and the skin was already mildly irritated.

Miss C thankfully is a trooper and besides a few cranky days, she just gets on with the game that girl. Shes incredibly awesome and for that I'm grateful.

Whilst swinging is entirely serious business, you can see the evolved sweat cap sticking up through the top of her helmet. I do miss that crazy tuft of hair sticking out but her lil face is just as good for kisses.