October 14

Poor baby Isla! She has had lots of diarrhea (or "diareada" as Audrey calls it) this week and a horrible diaper rash. The past couple of days (and especially nights) have been rough. Every time she poops, which is very frequently, she screams in pain. She is still eating fairly well and peeing regularly, so I don't think she is dehydrated. The diarrhea and diaper rash are just causing a lot of pain...making it hard for her to sleep or be comfortable for very long periods of time.

Rice cereal is supposed to help with diarrhea, so I decided it was time to start feeding Isla cereal. She had her first feeding this morning. She wasn't quite sure what to do at first, but by the end of our feeding she was opening her mouth for the spoon...although most of the cereal ended up coming right back out.

Just to be sure both girls get equal blog time, we recorded Isla's first cereal feeding, just like we did with Audrey. I've been trying to upload the video since last night, but Blogger isn't liking me right now. So I'm done trying for now. It wasn't all that exciting anyways!

October 12

We went back to Hanger today. They scanned Isla's head again, and she was at 95.8%. At her last scan six weeks ago, she was 94%. Normal is around 83-85%. Those numbers are moving in the wrong direction.

Therefore, we are officially getting the helmet. Next week!!!!

When I first found out about Isla's brachycephaly and the possibility of a helmet, I immediately began searching the internet to find out more about it. I was especially interested in blogs and real life stories about parents with kids in helmets. Reading about how other people have been through the same thing helped me to feel so much better about Isla wearing a helmet.

So, I have tried to be very thorough on this blog about detailing our story. I hope that someone else who is going through the same thing might stumble across this humble little blog and find some encouragement.

For those who are just tuning in, here is a quick recap of what is going on. Isla was born with a flat head. At her two month appointment, the pediatrician confirmed my suspicion that her head was still not growing correctly. She referred us to a physical therapist, who is working with Isla to improve the range of motion in her neck. We had hoped that physical therapy might also help her flat head, but her head has not improved on its own.

Now Isla we will wear a helmet (officially called a cranial band) 23 hours a day for the next 3-8 months. We are really hoping it will only be 3 months, but the orthotist today told us that with brachycephaly (as opposed to the more common plagiocephaly) it can often take longer to correct.

The helmet will look like this, without the Tweety Bird pictures all over it!
Isla's helmet will be light pink. There are all kinds of crazy patterns and pictures and designs out there for these helmets. But I personally think they are a little tacky. I am viewing Isla's helmet as a fashion accessory...therefore it must coordinate with her outfits! We are looking into some hats to go over it, as well as velcro flowers and bows that we can attach to it.

I was really terrified of the helmet when we first learned it was a possibility. But at this point, I am embracing it. It has taken me a while to come to this point, but I really feel like this is what we need to do for her. I am also grateful that this is the biggest problem we are worrying about right now. I know there are far, far, far worse things that can happen to a baby. In the end, I am grateful for a healthy and (mostly) happy little baby!

October 11

Even though it looks like it was Audrey's birthday today in this picture, it was really my birthday! Though I'm pretty sure Audrey was way more excited about my birthday than I was!

To Audrey, a birthday equals blowing out candles and eating cake with icing. That is about all she talked about all day long, until we finally got to have cake tonight.

There were a few rough moments in the day. Isla had a horrible time at physical therapy, then she has been grumpy and not eating well and has diarrhea. I don't think she is feeling too good. Audrey has been up and down all day long. Super sweet and happy and excited about my birthday, but she has also had some major temper tantrums today as well. Now, Daniel is trying to put the girls to bed, but both are refusing to sleep...which is highly unusual. They may get up early, but generally they are good about going to sleep quickly. Not tonight.

Despite those things, it has been a good day. Our friend Jody came over to watch Audrey while I went to physical therapy with Isla. Jody is one of Audrey's most favorite people right now, so that was a big highlight to her day. Then Jody took me and the girls out to lunch.

Daniel took the afternoon off work, so I got to go shopping, all by myself! My friend Lindsey cooked a delicious dinner for us, and we ended the night with cake. Overall, a pretty good day!

October 10

I pulled out this jumperoo/activity center thing for Isla to try out today. Her head control has improved drastically over the past couple of weeks (at least I think so), and I thought it was time to give her something new to do.

I think she liked it. She stared intently at all the toys and worked really hard to grab a hold of them. Then she got a little frustrated because she wanted to put everything in her mouth, but the toys don't move off of the base.(If you are sentimental like me and want to go back and look at Audrey's first time in the jumper, you can find that here. We put Audrey in the jumper a few weeks earlier than Isla, but they both seemed to react in about the same way. That's one reason I keep blogging...I love having this record of our daily life and all of our kids' milestones.)

Looking at these pictures, it only confirmed to me that we are making the right decision with this helmet. Sorry if I sound like a broken record about this, but I go back and forth all the time on whether we really "need" to helmet her. I think she is beautiful just as she is, and most of the time I don't notice her head shape much at all.

But then I look at pictures like these, where you can see how it slopes up towards the back and then it's just like a cliff in the back...straight down. In the second picture below, you can see how it is causing her forehead to begin to bulge out a bit in the front.


Daniel talked to a lady tonight who has a flat head. She said she has hated it her whole life and refuses to wear her hair in a ponytail, because she is self conscious about her head shape. It was more confirmation that we are doing the right thing to help re-shape Isla's head now while we still can.

October 8

I totally forgot to post this last night!

We went out with a few friends to celebrate my birthday. (I turn 31 on Tuesday...yikes!) We were planning to have dinner at Bella Milano's, a nice Italian restaurant. But about 4 schools in the area had Homecoming last night, and it was packed with high school kids who had reservations. So, we went to Chilis instead.
Then we went to go see The Ides of March. I thought the movie was good...an interesting look behind the scenes of a political campaign.

It was a fun night! Daniel and I have been trying to get out of the house without kids since before Isla was born. It was a perfect way to end a really long week.

Also, I had a photo shoot yesterday with this little girl. I took her pictures over a year ago, and it was impossible to get her to sit still for me. It is amazing how much kids can grow up in a year. This time, she did an excellent job of sitting and smiling and doing whatever I wanted her to do. So sweet!

October 7

We introduced Isla to Sophie le giraffe today. (Katy, you should be happy to know that I think the two of them are going to be good friends!)Isla also had her 4 month doctor's appointment today. She weighed in at 13 lbs, 6 oz. (49th percentile) and 24.5 inches long (71st percentile). It's crazy how quickly my skinny little baby turned into a roly poly little thing! Those measurements are nearly identical to Audrey's measurements at 4 months. Isla did not scream nearly as much as Audrey did during her 4 month check up though!

I was anxious for this appointment. First, I wanted to know our pediatrician's opinion on whether Isla needs to get a helmet or not. (Remember, I just want someone to tell me what to do!)

Her response was that she would not have sent us to Hanger so early if she did not think that Isla needed a helmet. She said that Isla was unique in the fact that her head was flat since birth. Because her head grew flat in utero, Dr. Murray was pretty sure from the beginning that Isla would need a helmet to correct it. Therefore she referred us to the specialist at a really young age, believing that the helmet was pretty much inevitable. Her opinion is: if you have the chance to make it better (and insurance is going to pay for it), then why not do it? That is how I've been feeling, but I just needed an "expert" to confirm my thoughts for me.

Here is what her head looks like today...it has changed since the first picture we took two months ago. It looks better to me...a little more uniformly flat across the back and not quite as triangular? Maybe we'll go in next week and her numbers will have improved drastically. If by some chance they do, we will reconsider. But at this point, it is looking like we have officially decided to get the helmet.
I was also curious to see what our pediatrician thought about Isla's head and neck control. I feel like she is behind where she should be in this area. However, the doctor thought she was doing great. She observed Isla sitting up (while supported)and on her tummy, and she thought her head control looked perfect. The one thing Isla didn't want to do was turn her head while on her back, but she never wants to do that. Dr. Murray said the helmet might make it easier for her to turn her head (and consequently learn to roll over). With the helmet and some more physical therapy to make sure she stays on track, she was not concerned one bit about Isla's development. Hearing that was a relief to me!Now it's time to get out the high chair and start feeding her some cereal. She is becoming such a big girl! (Though according to Audrey, Isla is not a big girl. Not yet. Audrey is a big girl. Isla is a big baby....Audrey corrects me on this constantly!)

October 5-6

Here are just a couple more pictures from our time in Keokuk.

We had lunch with Uncle "Sef" one afternoon. Seth just loves getting his picture taken, can't you tell?
Nana had a new Barney movie for Audrey to watch. I put Isla down next to her in the Bumbo, and before I knew it, they were both staring at the TV. What is it about the dumb purple dinosaur that captures kids' attention??

Nana knows how much Audrey loves crafts. So she got this Halloween craft to make with Audrey. Of course, Audrey thought it was lots of fun!