Sunday, August 24, 2008
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Torticollis and Leah's Therapy
We went to Leah's first therapy appointment this past Tuesday. Her therapist is the same woman that does Leah's helmet adjustments every two weeks. We really like her and so does Leah.
Leah (like most babies) did not enjoy being held down for the exercises that were needed for her neck. There are 2 exercises that we need to do FIVE TIMES A DAY!! I was surprised as last week the assistant mentioned 3x a day. Every time we do the exercises we have to remove her helmet. We hold each exercise (stretch) for a count of 10-15 seconds and do 3 repetitions of that exercise. We repeat that 5x a day. At the end of the night she will have 40 minutes without her helmet instead of an hour since she will have it off periodically throughout the day.
Tuesday's appointment was the longest because the therapist was showing me how to do the exercises, as well as giving Leah other therapy as well. So for now we drive to Ft. Lauderdale every week, and hopefully in a month we will graduate to doing the therapy at the office every other week so we can get it down while we are there for her helmet anyway. Thankfully the therapy appears to be covered by the insurance!
Leah's next appt. will be next Tuesday (19th) for a helmet fitting. Her new (2nd) helmet should be in by then. We will be able to do her therapy while we are there.
Leah (like most babies) did not enjoy being held down for the exercises that were needed for her neck. There are 2 exercises that we need to do FIVE TIMES A DAY!! I was surprised as last week the assistant mentioned 3x a day. Every time we do the exercises we have to remove her helmet. We hold each exercise (stretch) for a count of 10-15 seconds and do 3 repetitions of that exercise. We repeat that 5x a day. At the end of the night she will have 40 minutes without her helmet instead of an hour since she will have it off periodically throughout the day.
Tuesday's appointment was the longest because the therapist was showing me how to do the exercises, as well as giving Leah other therapy as well. So for now we drive to Ft. Lauderdale every week, and hopefully in a month we will graduate to doing the therapy at the office every other week so we can get it down while we are there for her helmet anyway. Thankfully the therapy appears to be covered by the insurance!
Leah's next appt. will be next Tuesday (19th) for a helmet fitting. Her new (2nd) helmet should be in by then. We will be able to do her therapy while we are there.
Monday, August 11, 2008
Update
Sorry I haven't updated in awhile. We have been having a great summer! I can hardly believe Leah is almost 7 months old! She has been scooting around on her belly for almost a month now, aka "the army crawl." About 2 weeks ago she got up on her hands and knees and is learning to crawl. She is getting really good, but isn't really crawling yet.
Leah has been fussy a bit the past week or so. We think she is teething, but nothing has come through yet. She still isn't sleeping through the night, but at least when she wakes she is quick to go right back to sleep. I guess she is in the habit of night wakings. Some nights only twice (once while I'm asleep), and other nights up to 5 times. My oldest daughter Sarah says, "Mom, one day you'll sleep again."
In Cranio News:
Leah had a helmet appt. last week. She has been in her helmet a little over 2 months, and they wanted to rescan (measure) her head to see the progress she has made. There has been A LOT of progress! It was amazing to see the difference in a computerized scan.
We met with Leah's plastic surgeon, Dr. Stelnicki, for the first time since she has been wearing a helmet. He was very pleased with how symmetrical her face looks especially her eyes. He said they are completely even. Though she has made a lot of progress, it was evident to all of us that she would need one more helmet to finish rounding out her head. Since she has almost outgrown this helmet, another helmet has been ordered for her. We will get it next week.
We also found out that Leah has a mild case of Torticollis. Basically it means that one neck muscle is slightly longer than the other, which means she favors one side over the other. We have never noticed it before, so it must be really mild. Nevertheless it still needs to be addressed, so she will start therapy tomorrow and will have to go weekly for the first month. After that we hope to only have to go every other week while we are there for her helmet appt since it is over an hour away. Tomorrow they will teach me exercises to do with her. I will have to do the exercises 3 times a day with her. In all my spare time....haha!
I'll post pictures soon. It's amazing how much she's grown. She is really long, and weighs around 15 lbs. Leah really is a happy baby, and we all get so much enjoyment out of her.
Leah has been fussy a bit the past week or so. We think she is teething, but nothing has come through yet. She still isn't sleeping through the night, but at least when she wakes she is quick to go right back to sleep. I guess she is in the habit of night wakings. Some nights only twice (once while I'm asleep), and other nights up to 5 times. My oldest daughter Sarah says, "Mom, one day you'll sleep again."
In Cranio News:
Leah had a helmet appt. last week. She has been in her helmet a little over 2 months, and they wanted to rescan (measure) her head to see the progress she has made. There has been A LOT of progress! It was amazing to see the difference in a computerized scan.
We met with Leah's plastic surgeon, Dr. Stelnicki, for the first time since she has been wearing a helmet. He was very pleased with how symmetrical her face looks especially her eyes. He said they are completely even. Though she has made a lot of progress, it was evident to all of us that she would need one more helmet to finish rounding out her head. Since she has almost outgrown this helmet, another helmet has been ordered for her. We will get it next week.
We also found out that Leah has a mild case of Torticollis. Basically it means that one neck muscle is slightly longer than the other, which means she favors one side over the other. We have never noticed it before, so it must be really mild. Nevertheless it still needs to be addressed, so she will start therapy tomorrow and will have to go weekly for the first month. After that we hope to only have to go every other week while we are there for her helmet appt since it is over an hour away. Tomorrow they will teach me exercises to do with her. I will have to do the exercises 3 times a day with her. In all my spare time....haha!
I'll post pictures soon. It's amazing how much she's grown. She is really long, and weighs around 15 lbs. Leah really is a happy baby, and we all get so much enjoyment out of her.
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