Waiting...Waiting...Waiting...

I have lots of exciting things to look forward to in the next couple of days and the anticipation is killing me! First of all, Mom and Paige are coming to visit. This isn't really anything too out of the ordinary, but we haven't seen them for two whole weeks! So a visit is long overdue. Second, we are awaiting the arrival of Ben and Ambers baby, Nugget! Ben is Matthews best friend, and now he and his wife are having a baby that will be less than a year younger than Elsie! We are so excited for them! Last but certainly not least, we have an appointment for Elsie on Tuesday to get her head scanned again! I am so anxious to find out how her head has changed that it is almost too much for me to handle!

For those of you that don't know what Elsie's helmet is for, I will tell you. No, she doesn't have to wear it because she falls over a lot. Yes, many ladies in church have asked me that. No, I don't put it on her for fashion purposes. Yes, I have also been asked that. When she was born, she came out with a pretty flat  head. Matthew admitted to me many weeks after her birth that his stomach dropped when she came out because he thought there was something seriously wrong with her when he saw that her head was so deformed. Little did he know, it's actually very normal, unless it doesn't start to round out. This is the case with Elsie.
She actually has acid reflux, so getting her to stay on her tummy has been more than a struggle, it has been an all out failed mission! She ends up spitting up a good portion of her bottles in the first place, and when you try to put her on her tummy, she spits up twice as much. My point to all of this is, because we were never able to put her on her tummy for very long, her head never got a chance to round out. I asked the doctor continually if we should be worried about her head and he kept reassuring me that it was fine.
Well, at 4 months, our doctor finally showed some concern about her obviously abnormal head shape, and we were sent to a specialist. I had no idea what a traumatic event we were in for. First off, Elsie is a great judge of character, and she does not like the specialist in the least bit. She cries the second he puts his hands on her. It's nothing like the typical soft, nervous cry that she does when a stranger is holding her. This is an all out red-faced SCREAM. Every. Time. I can almost hear her begging him to leave her alone. She may only be 6 months old, but she knows that this man is not the kind of person she wants to interact with, and I have to agree with her! Each month we go, he grabs her helmet off, pulling her hair, then he puts a funny looking hat on her head that is so tight that I find myself wondering if it's cutting off circulation in her brain, and then he throws her into a dark, eerie machine that takes a digital picture of her head. His movements are quick and brash and his tone always seems to be sarcastic. I would like to scream at him sometimes. I want to know why he can't take my daughters helmet off without pulling her hair. I do it every day, WHY CAN'T HE!? I assume that he is slightly desensitized from dealing with screaming children all day long and he is probably a very nice man, but I still find myself reeling with tension and frustration after each appointment. Moving on.
Elsie was diagnosed with moderate Brachycephaly with Plagiocephaly.You can see a picture of it here: http://www.cranialtech.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=98&Itemid=148 . Brachycephaly with Plagiocephaly, what the specialist originally referred to as "Charlie Brown Head". There I was, holding back tears as my child was screaming at the top of her lungs, and he refers to her as "Charlie Brown Head", I was not impressed.
So far, we have seen nothing but positive results. Each time we get her head scanned, the specialist claims that she has some of the best growth he has seen. It is obvious that this step was necessary for her future well being. She has been such a good sport through the whole thing. She wears it without any complaints, day in and day out.
Each time her monthly appointment approaches, I can't help but be anxious. Although the helmet experience hasn't really been bad at all, I still dream of the day when she can take it off for good! I can't wait until I can go in for a kiss, and kiss cheek instead of hard, cold plastic! I fully plan to smother her with extra hugs and kisses the day that we take it off!