Does This Helmet Make Me Look Fat??

Today was the big day (well, not THE big day...but A big day.) - Hayes was fitted for his custom cranial remolding helmet.  It was a long appointment filled with fittings, adjustments, and counseling on how to gradually introduce the helmet and care for it on a day to day basis.  We are to begin with a pretty relaxed regimen today...one hour on, one hour off, no wearing at naps, and no wearing at bedtime.  Tomorrow the time will be increased a little more, and the trend will continue until he is wearing it both all day and all night.  We will only be allowed to remove it for an hour every day while Hayes gets a bath and the helmet is cleaned and dried.  (I'm warned it will start to smell like a stinky gym sock...lovely.)  We have follow up appointments every week or two, and we are scheduled for another scan in five weeks to measure the change in growth.  At this point, they are thinking that he will wear it for no more than three months.  November...December...JANUARY!!

"Mom, does this helmet make me look fat?" 

Still the cutest and sweetest baby in the whole wide world!

You are probably wondering how we are acclimating to this new accessory in our life.  Well...Hayes is handling it with a calm and confident attitude, of course.  He amazes me with the strength and braveness he exudes!  He wears his helmet with pride, and he gives a big grin when you compliment him on it.  I, on the other hand, have not been handling it so well.  I cried like a baby when the orthotist first put it on him, and it is taking everything I have to put on a happy face for my little guy.  He is down for a nap right now, and I have tears streaming down my face as I look at this awkward white helmet sitting on my coffee table.  My tears are for Hayes - it breaks my heart that he now has yet another thing to set him apart from "normal" babies.  And my tears are also for me - I am so fearful of the stares that we will get next time we are out running errands, and I am terrified that others will think that I am a neglectful mother who let her baby end up in this awful device.  If only they knew all that we had been through.

I guess the moral of this long, rambling post is not just to let you know that Hayes has finally gotten his helmet.  It is also to remind you to open your heart and always show compassion for others.  You never know where their journey began or where your journey may one day take you.  (By the way, those words of wisdom are all mine.  Look out, Aristotle!)