Day 1

Today was our first day wearing the helmets. They wore them for an hour and then took them off for an hour. No naps in the helmets just yet…. We did wear them home from Grandpa and Grammies and they did great in their car seats. I am thankful we started this fashion statement in the fall as the helmets make their little heads really sweaty, which is common as they get use to wearing them. I have to say that this experience has got to be harder on us then them. We are not very good (yet) at getting the helmets on and off and would advise anyone who might be walking this journey one day after us to practice before you leave the office. They advise you to watch for any red marks (that don’t disappear after a half hour) after you take the helmet off. If this is happening, we need to get in for an adjustment and after today I did notice that there are some marks where Vaughn wears his glasses. Our next follow up appointment is on Monday so we are only going to wear the glasses and the helmet while he is eating. Here are a couple pictures of the boys’ heads so you can see why we are wearing the helmets!

 When the rehab doctor was measuring the boys’ heads to see if they would be candidates for helmets, she said that 10 is a low need, 15 is borderline and what most insurance companies want to see if they are going to approve the cost. 20 is severe. Vaughn was measured at a 22 and Asher a 14. We are extremely blessed to say that our insurance has approved the cost for both helmets for the boys. After the boys had their initial scans we did find out that they were not as bad as originally documented. Vaughn was measuring at a 17 and Asher a 10. Jerad and I decided to still move forward with a helmet for Asher so later in life, there wouldn’t be any safety concerns.

In addition our Vaughn also has torticollis. Torticollis is described as a twisted neck in which the head is tipped to one side. We think that the shape of his head is the reason his left eye is smaller and his left ear grows back instead of up. The doctors can’t guarantee that the helmet will correct this but we are all hopeful. There are a couple of reasons a baby can get torticollis and it is typical in twins as on occasion because it is crowed in the womb, one twin’s neck is pushed to the side. Because Vaughn and Asher were so small this is most likely not the case and because when Vaughn was born, we didn’t see a size discrepancy in his eyes or the obvious neck tilt. Another theory is that when a baby has severe acid reflux they tend to angle their head up and to the side to help try to keep the reflux from coming up. Both boys had horrible acid reflux and our assumption is this is what caused the torticollis. Asher did show signs of torticollis but managed to grow out of it. We believe it was because the boys were (are) getting regular adjustments from our chiropractor, Dr. Ryan that Asher was able to move midline. So our adventure continues on as we seek the ever desired round head.