Tuesday, June 08, 2010

Gracie's Helmet

Grace got her helmet yesterday. This has been a really long process and I'm glad we finally got to this point because we will only go up from here.
Yesterday was hard for me. Our appointment was in the afternoon and in the morning if I would think about it I would cry. I know, I know...but I couldn't help it. I just knew it would be hard for her and I was so sad about it.
She didn't like it at all when they first put the helmet on her, but it surprisingly didn't take long for her to adjust to it. I was expecting her reaction to be much worse. They warned me that even though she may acclimate alright during the day that she would have a hard time going to sleep that first night. And she did. She cried for about 2 hours, poor little thing.
She has to wear it 23 hours a day. We can take it off for an hour each day and we have to wash the helmet and her head.
Her head is super hot. It's dripping wet all day long. That's one of the saddest parts to me. She probably wonders why her head is so hot all of the time.
All in all she's doing great and I hope her head changes quickly!

This picture kind of shows the flat spot on her head:

Here she is with the cast (she was so sad!):

Here she is just before we left for the appointment yesterday:

Here she is after the appointment with her helmet:

There you have it. Gracie sure is a trooper, I'll tell you that much!

9 comments:

Dave and Tana said...

She is a trooper! I hope she adjusts well!

The Morgans said...

I think she looks a lot like Ella in the last picture.

joeandcarole said...

Sweet baby! It looks different than I thought it would...actually smaller than I expected. She certainly is communicating her feelings through that look isn't she? She looks somewhat indignant! It's as hard on you as on her isn't it?
Love you all...Mom

Mike and Adrianne said...

Oh what a sweet girl. I'm so sorry she has to wear that stinkin' thing but I'm happy that there is something to help her. I wouldn't want to sleep in that thing either!

Michelle said...

Sorry she has to wear such a hot thing. HOpefully the time will go by fast for you and her. I'm sure she will adjust and sleep well soon.

Ruth M said...

We had friends whose twins had to wear helmets. They adjusted to them really quickly, and have no lingering trauma :)

The Duke said...

I'm glad you finally got it. I think it's almost always worse for the parent than it is for the little ones - I would have cried too. But I am sure she will adjust quickly and be her usual cute little self.

chelsey said...

I hope she's able to sleep better and get used to wearing it quickly. That's gotta be so hard for the both of you! It's so hot during the summer months too! Hang in there! It's a good thing kids are so resilient~ now if only us moms could bounce back just as quickly huh!

Jake Z said...

Aw, what a cutie!! You can totally make little pony tails out the top of the helmet, right? :) She's a trooper...and so's her mama...soon it'll all be a distant memory - with a perfectly shaped head!!