Mckenzie's Helmet Story

So a lot of people have been asking me if I would share with them the story/experience of Mckenzie’s helmet and just how well I thought it worked. It’s a long story so if you don’t want to read it just skip on down to the bottom and look at the before/after pictures.
Ever since Mckenzie was born she has had a flat head in back. The doctors at the hospital informed me that her flat head was because she sat right against my spine pretty much the whole 9 months she was inside of me. They also said that her head was misshaped because they had to use the vacuum to get her out (which thank goodness they did because it was the only thing that saved her life). They informed me not to worry about it because it would eventually fill out. So we didn’t think much of it and assumed that it would eventually fill out and shape correctly. We gave her plenty of tummy time and tried to only lay her on her back when she was sleeping. When she was sleeping we would use a gel shaping pillow that the Hospital gave us when she was born. By the time she was three months old we began to realize that her head was not changing shape at all and was still really flat in back. At this time I confronted her primary doctor about it. He really didn’t look at it as thoroughly as I thought he should have and he said that it was just fine, but if I was worried to keep her off of her back except for when she was sleeping and when I put her down on her back to turn her head to the side. I continued to do what he said and kept her off her back at all times, except while she was sleeping. We used pillows, with supervision, to try and prop her up in sitting position. When holding her we made sure to hold her sitting on our lap so that there was no weight on the back of her head. When I put her down to sleep I always made sure and turn her head to one side or the other. However, this didn’t seem to help. Around the first of February Mckenzie got really sick with a bad cold and I had to take her in to see a doctor. This time we saw a different doctor then we usually see. (There are several doctors in this office but for some reason I seemed to always end up see the same one.) This doctor checked her over for her cold and gave her an antibiotic but his major concern wasn’t her cold, but her head. He asked me if I had noticed how flat her head was and if I had done anything about it. I told him that I had visited with one of the other doctors in the same office and he assured me that it was fine. This doctor was very shocked and informed me that it wasn’t fine. He was worried that Mckenzie might have craniosynostosis. He told me to make sure that I changed her well baby check up appointment that was on March 5th from the other doctor to where I was seeing him. During this months time we continued to see no changes in the shape of Mckenzie’s head. On March 5th I took Mckenzie in to see this doctor for her well baby check up. This doctor was still worried that Mckenzie might have craniosynostosis so he wrote me out a prescription to take Mckenzie up to the hospital to get x-rays done on her head. The test results come back negative on the craniosynostosis, so the doctor told me to watch her closely and that he would visit with me again about it. Towards the first of May I went back to visit with this doctor because we were still seeing no change in Mckenzie’s head. This time the doctor was really worried so he sent me to a specialist in Idaho Falls. On May 11th we went and visited with the specialist about putting an infant head shaping helmet on Mckenzie. The specialist informed me that he has never seen a head as flat as Mckenzie. Mckenzie’s head was flatter then the average kid and was not just a cosmetic issue because her head was so flat she really didn’t have any protection over her brainstem which could result to serious problems if it did not pop out on its own. On the scale that they use to measure her head was at a 7.5 with a 0 being the perfect head. This specialist was truly amazing and worked with us on fighting with the insurance to try and get them to cover it. Most insurance won’t cover it because they say it is a cosmetic issue. However, after several pictures, letter, and phone calls the specialist help to prove to the insurance company that it was not just a cosmetic issue and that it had to be done. It was truly an answer to our prayers, because it really had to be done and it really is an expensive procedure. On May 28th Mckenzie went back to the specialist to do the cast for the infant shaping helmet. The whole casting process was really a neat procedure and only lasted 20 minutes thank goodness. I found the whole process very interesting, but Mckenzie did not. She thought the whole process was horrible. She hated having to be held still and even more she hated the fact that they were putting something on her head. She screamed louder then I have ever heard her scream. They put a wet towel over her head and then made a hard cast of her head just like they would make a cast for someone who broke their arm. On June 16th Mckenzie didn't know what hit her when she had to get her shaping helmet on. Thanks to the answer of many people's prays she was able to adjust to it pretty well. After a five day process of gradually getting her use to the helmet she was stuck in the thing for 23 hours a day and from there we began the long journey. At first I think it was harder on me then on Mckenzie. The reason why I say this is because everywhere we went we were getting weird looks and getting asked a lot of questions. It didn’t bother me when people would ask why she was wearing it because after all we all are curious. However, what really bothered me was just how mean some people could be. People were calling her an alien from outer space. I actually over heard one kid ask his mom in Walmart why that baby was wearing a plastic thing on her head and the mom told him it was probably because her mom was mean and beats her and she now has a head injury. I had several people tell me that I was a stupid first time mom and that if I would have loved me baby and held her instead of leaving her laying on her back all day long that she wouldn’t have had a flat head and wouldn’t have had to go through this horrible procedure. It really amazed me just how judgmental people could be. I also had several people yell at me because I was making my baby wear this plastic hat during the heat of the summer and her head was just sweating. They all seemed to shut up pretty fast when I would tell them she had to for medical reasons. I also had several people treated her as though she had a plague and would grab their kid away from her whenever Mckenzie would try and play with them. It was almost like they thought she might spread it to their kid. There were also several parent who thought just because Mckenzie had a helmet on that she couldn’t feel a thing and would let their kids tackle her, hit her head, or throw objects at her head. These parents would then get upset when I would pull their kid away and tell them that they weren’t allowed to touch her helmet because it could really hurt her. It was a lose lose situation. At the time Mckenzie was still young enough to not really understand what was going on. She continued to be her happy self and would smile at everyone.
As Mckenzie continued to get older the helmet began to bother her more and more. Even though we were making a trip to see her specialist ever two weeks it seemed like the helmet was adjusting and moving faster then that. Mckenzie began to get bruises and rubs from the helmet. At this time I began to realize just how tough my little girl was. Her head was so banged up and at time so rubbed raw, but she never cried of pulled at the helmet. She was always a good sport. By the time September rolled around Mckenzie had decided that she had just about had it with her helmet. Being the smarty that she is she figured out how to unvelcro her helmet and pull it off of her head. At this time I was beginning to wonder if the helmet was even worth it. So far we had not seen any changes. The specialist kept telling me that we had to be knocking on the door of a huge change, but I was beginning to not believe him. She had been in the helmet for almost three months and there was no change. At this time I couldn’t help but wonder just what would have happened if I would have seen the doctor that sent me to the specialist in the first place instead of the other stupid doctor that keep saying she was ok. The reason being was because Mckenzie hit a HUGE growth spurt right before we put the helmet on and really hadn’t grown since. If we would have gotten her in it earlier we would have seen a huge change, but now we were just waiting for her to hit another growth spurt.
On September 24th I took Mckenzie once again to see her specialist because she had learned how to unvelcro the helmet and pull it off her head again. The specialist made some adjustments on how it velcroed up so that she couldn’t undo it. He also took some more measurements on her head. This time we finally received good news. Her head had made some progress!!! We jumped from a 7 1/2 on the SD scale to a 5 1/2!!! This little bit of change helped us to continue in the journey. It was all up hill from there. When we measured again the end of November and we were at a 3.46, more change then the specialist ever thought was possible. The month of December began to bring more challenges as Mckenzie decided she was done with her helmet and would constantly pull at it. Her pulling at it once again caused more sores on her head. On December 21 we made another trip to her specialist and did more measurements. We were still at a 3.46. This time the specialist informed us that the helmet really wasn’t going to do much more. He said that we still might continue to see change as she continues to grow, but at this point the helmet is more of a problem then it’s doing good, for Mckenzie. After talking with the specialist we left with the helmet off of Mckenzie’s head. Mckenzie is now helmet free during the day and will only have to wear her helmet at night until the first of January and then it’s bye bye helmet for good. I have never seen Mckenzie simile so big as she did when she realized she didn’t have to wear her helmet during the day. It was a long hard process, but so worth it and I would do it again if I had to. There has been a huge change in Mckenzie’s head. It still looks a little flat on top, but that it because that is where her soft spot is and the helmet couldn’t speed up the change of it. As she continues to grow the soft spot will catch up making her head look even better. We count our blessings and are so thankful for the Lord’s hand in helping Mckenzie. We are also so thankful for all the thought and prayers of our family and friends. Below are some before/after pictures. However, the after pictures really don’t do justice. It really does look much better in person.

BEFORE:





AFTER: