Plagiocephaly and Torticollis

We just got home from the Cities and I thought I would post some pictures of the trip and update everyone on how the appointment went while it is all still fresh in my mind.
Remy and I drove down last night and stayed at my aunt Kathy's house. I got to see my cousin Libby who I have not seen in a couple of years and my cousin Abby, who is actually due today with her little one. Remy loved them all and we got a pretty decent picture of us girls with Remy
(minus the strange placement of my hand, it was either that or Abby's knee and I didn't want her to feel like I was infringing on her personal space).



Nic was able to make the appointment at Gillette's Childrens Hospital in Minnetonka. He had been at training for work in Eagan but got out earlier than we thought. The first doctor we saw told us that Remy has Torticollis, which is a tightening of one of his neck muscles. This means he has limited movement when he turns his head to his left and normal movement when he turns his head to the right. He also has Deformational Plagiocephaly which has partially been a result of his Torticollis but also probably has something to do with his vacuum birth and the fact that I have a small pelvic arch, which is why he got stuck in my hips while I was in labor.
The doctor told us that the CranioCap, which is a helmet the baby wears for 22-23 hours a day for a certain period of time, was purely up to us and he would not tell us if we should or we shouldn't and that about 50% of parents choose to use the CranioCap and 50% don't. That wasn't exactly helpful for me in making the decision. He did say that Remy has more severe Plagiocephaly than most kids that they treat at this age. I am so glad Nic was there because, after talking about it, he told me that the right thing to do was for Remy to have the CranioCap. He forehead does actually bulge out on one side because of how his head has started to deform.

For the Torticollis we will be doing physical therapy 2 times a day at home and once every 2 weeks in the Cities, along with an appointment every 2 weeks to adjust his CranioCap. His CranioCap will be ready the 29th and he will be wearing it for 4 months. Normally he would wear it 2-3 months but because of his age and the severity of the Plagiocephaly he will need to wear it longer. We do have the option of taking off the CranioCap whenever we feel his head has been corrected enough. So if at the end of July he is sweating like crazy and his head is relativity round we can simply take of the CranioCap and be done with it.
We will be doing some form of therapy at home for 6-8 months, but will only need to go to the Cities for therapy for the first 3 months or so.
We had our first therapy session today and Katie was our therapist. Remy loved her and her assistant and did really well considering he was hungry and sleepy.

Here she is doing one of the stretches with him.


Towards the end of our therapy session he started to get fussy and it was past time for his noon meal and definitely time for a nap but we still needed to get his head scanned for the CranioCap mold to be made. The doctor put a large sock-like tube over Remy's head with holes cut for his arms, ears and face and then attached a black thing to that, I think that was attached to the computer. He had a special camera that had two lenses directly across from eachother with a red laser beam going between the two lenses and he ran that over Remy's head in all directions and it transferred to the computer and made a composite of his head. Nic held Remy while I distracted him. Here is a picture of him with tears in his eyes because he did not like the sock contraption at all, but he did really well.

The doctor was able to get an excellent picture the first time around which he did not think was possible because of Remy's age, basically he is more squirmy than a 3 or 4 month old. This doctor asked us why we hadn't brought Remy in earlier, since his Plagiocephaly is pretty severe. We told him why we didn't make it to Remy's 4 month appointment and that at his 6 month appointment our doctor told us to wait a little while longer and see if it gets better. Typically the best time to treat this is inbetween 4-8 months and Remy is almost 9 months. Thankfully treatment is still pretty effective until 12 or 13 months of age so we got him in just in time.

I am relieved that we are getting it treated and that I won't have to spend the rest of my life worrying about his head shape. I do feel bad for the little guy, I wouldn't want to wear a helmet all summer long and I worry about people making fun of him. Even if they can't hurt his feelings they can hurt my feelings. But I guess I shouldn't think about that, this is whats best for him and so thats what we are doing.

After the appointment Remy got some veggies and we met Molly for Chipotle. Remy slept in his stroller at Chipotle and woke up much happier.
We stopped at Cabela's on the way out of town and Remy loved looking at the animals and the fish. Here is a picture of him watching the fish swim by.


This is Remy after our big day, I think all three of us felt pretty exhausted!