Anastasia's Helmet Head

On Monday Anastasia finally received her new helmet. Char calls it a hat because it sounds more lady like. She'll be wearing it 23 hours a day, every day, for 3-4 months. (Until her asymmetry changes from 19.5 degrees down to at least 3 degrees.) That'll take some time. 

It's a lovely helmet covered in little pink, green, and purple hearts with a light yellow background, I think it shows off her sweet nature. It's certainly an improvement from the utilitarian clear helmet Heidi Anne had as a baby. 

Heidi Anne's Helmet as a Baby

The day started out with a physical therapy appointment where she is showing some improvement. We just need to go down to Ogden every other week now. We could really use the good news, things have been a bit gloomy lately. 

Later in the afternoon, she had her helmet appointment, which took over an hour to fit her helmet! That's a lifetime with a cranky eight month old. 

The helmet was molded based off what her perfect skull shape would be. (We got a copy of the 3-D mold which is cool and a perfect place to keep her helmet when not in use.) 

The doctor placed the helmet on her head, which she didn't like, and began making marks along the top of her head. When he was finished he went and cut a huge hole in the top of the helmet to provide air flow.  

We put it back on her again, making new markings along the sides and bottom of the helmet. Then proceeded to cut and buffer along the markings to provide comfort, expand her field of vision, and more space for her little ears so they don't rub the helmet all the time. 

We put it on her a 3rd time. He thought he could give her more space for her ears and raised the back of the helmet to help with her torticollis. The doctor was finally happy with the look and fit of the helmet after fitting number 4!

We started the helmet therapy with 2 hours on 1 hour off. Just to get her used to the feeling of it. It'll increase to 23 hours on 1 hour off in a few days. In that 1 hour I have to change her clothes, bathe her, and do her physical therapy. So it'll be a spaced out 60 minutes.