The Final Results

Yesterday, we got a packet in the mail from Mr Andy (his helmet doctor). It had Noah's final scan in it, showing us his results.

In the packet was this letter:

Hello Hailey, Brad, and Noah!

     Here are the results of Noah's great success from his cranial. As discussed, we were able to lower Noah's Cranial Index from 102% to 96.1%! This is great news. Additionally, we were able to lower Noah's Cranial Vault Asymmetry from 6mm to an impressive 1mm.

     Both Debra and I were very disappointed to discharge you guys from treatment. Noah was a great patient who always had a way to put a smile on your face in his own little way.

     Thanks again for being so great with treatment and making the whole process very easy. I believe that the final result of Noah's treatment was a great success and I am very pleased with the result. Also, I have enclosed a parental consent form to enable me to post Noah's results on my wall of fame (That's how good he did). I believe that this wall will help future parents understand what the final result can be for their child. Also, the release form will allow me to post a photo of Noah (if you send me one... hint... hint).

     So thank you so much for everything and I may see you guys for Noah's first birthday.

Take care,

Mr Andy

his final scan

(ok, yes, I'm putting this picture up because I'm skinnier than I was in the first shot)

I know some of the pictures are redundant, but I thought it'd be fun to see them all in one post to see how far we've come. It wasn't always fun, but I know Noah will thank us when he's 16 and doesn't have a flat head.

:)

   

Major Milestone

 No more helmet!

That's right! Today was his final appointment with the helmet doctor.

I'm so darn sentimental about everything, so of course, I took pictures. It made me sad to think that we won't be seeing these people anymore, at least not regularly. We invited Mr Andy and his receptionist Debra to Noah's first birthday party. I hope they can come. They're so sweet, and I'm pretty sure Noah is their favorite patient. :)

Noah and Mr Andy

(the helmet doctor)

We got his head scanned (which is why he's wearing white pantyhose on his head in the first picture) for the last time. Afterwards, Andy showed us the before and after scans, and it's amazing to see the difference. He went from having a little square-ish head to a cute little round head.

We're going to miss these people, but I'm glad it's over! Just in time for summer!

Noah's Nine Month Visit

Noah had his 9 month well visit today!
The morning actually started out a little dramatically.

I have a bad ankle. I'm not sure if I ever wrote about this before, but a few years ago, Brad had to have heart surgery. While he was in the hospital, I decorated his room with all kinds of "welcome home" type things. However, he wasn't allowed to walk up the stairs. I felt bad that he wasn't going to get the same effect, so I ran upstairs to grab his balloons. His parents' house has some steep steps. In my excitement, I wasn't paying attention and completely missed that last step. My right foot landed on the hardwood floor, and went down, still holding on to the balloons.
Everyone came running... pretty embarrassing. I told them I was fine, but as soon as I stood up, I felt something pop and got a really sharp pain in my ankle. Not good. I hobbled over to the couch, next to my handicapped boyfriend. While his sister got me some ice, his dad checked out the damage. My ankle had swollen twice its normal size and was deep blue within minutes. They were afraid I'd broken it. To make matters worse, I started going into shock. Yay. Brad's dad called my dad and said he was going to take me to the ER. And of course, I couldn't walk to the car. Brad wasn't allowed to lift a milk carton, let alone his girlfriend. So his dad, with his bad back, lifted me up and put me in the car. I swear that man needs a red cape sometimes. He's such a superman. Poor Brad; I stole his thunder.

Anyways, turns out I just sprained it really bad. Ever since then, it's been a little "if-y."

So today, as I was carrying Noah out to the car, my sandal slipped on our back step, causing my foot to land on the garage floor. I felt that infamous pop, and we both went down. All I could think of as we fell was "concrete floor! concrete floor!" Fortunately, I inherited that mother's instinctive vice hold. My legs might fall off, but Noah was not going to get hurt. As soon as I realized he was okay, I let go of him. He was laying on his back, looking up at me with this, "what just happened?" face. I started calling for Brad, except my voice was accented with pain and urgency. It scared Noah. He understood something was wrong and started crying. Brad came running and got Noah. That little boy didn't take his eyes off of me.

I'm fine. I was smarter this time and didn't stand on it immediately. It's swollen, but not blue. Brad somehow convinced me to change into my running shoes, so that I'd have good support. I was wearing a skirt. Yes, it was denim, but still. It was bad. People that saw me today must've thought I turned into one of those moms that has given up on her appearance.

Anyway, we miraculously made it to the pediatrician on time.

So here are the stats:
Weight - 27.5 lbs (95%)
Height - 30 in (95%)
Head - not sure, but I heard it was off the charts

Noah's one healthy baby. The nurse told us not to be surprised if he only gains like a pound or so between now and his first birthday. He's already starting to slim down some... I know, it's hard to tell. But really, he is. Makes me sad, almost. I'm going to miss my chubby baby! She said that all of the people giving us a hard time about "feeding him too much" are going to start asking us if we're feeding him enough. It never ends, does it?
He likes Dr Cox. Seriously, this guy is wonderful. He's silly and funny and great with kids. He makes the visit less stressful on both babies and parents. He answers every question I throw at him. He also has this "alter ego" we were told to ask about. Apparently, he and another pediatrician there like to play pranks on the drug reps that come by. His alter ego is Cletus. Our helmet doctor told us to ask him about it, because it was hilarious. Dr Cox told us most of his patients don't get to see it, but since we asked, he'd do it. It was hysterical. Think Cletus on The Simpsons. Or any backwoods hillbilly stereotype. I mean, he has a wig, glasses, and teeth for it. And he doesn't break character. It's too funny.
He happened to have a resident pediatrician following him today. I would like to know what that guy was thinking when Dr Cox put on his show for us. lol. Definitely not something you normally see at a doctor's office. But it's a great tactic for scaring off sales people.

Noah and Dr Cox. Noah looks a little like, "Dude, can we go now?"

Anyway, Noah did great.
He's able to start on finger foods, and we're beginning the weaning phase. He should be done by his first birthday.

He had to get his HepB shot. What amazed me, was that Noah remembered the nurse. It's always the same lady that gives him shots, and as soon as she sat down in front of him, his little lip started curling. He knew what she was about to do. Once it was over, Brad handed him to me. While I hate seeing him hurt, it's so sweet having him cling to me. He grabbed my shirt in his little fists and wouldn't let go, while he just sniffled into my neck. Makes my heart melt.

We also had a helmet doctor appointment today. Noah's head looks great. It's getting all rounded out and cute. He has a ton of blond hair on top and fuzzies on the sides where his helmet hits. We don't think he'll have to wear it much longer, mainly because he's growing so darn fast. Mr Andy tweaked the helmet for us, and we'll be visiting again in 3 weeks.

As for the boys that are coming, one of them wimped out on us. Turns out, he's sick. But I think the other two are still coming. I don't know... there's still 24 hours left. :)

My uncle is coming to help Brad work on the fence. He has his own grading company, so he has all kinds of cool tractors and tools. It should make the job go a little more quickly. Hopefully.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Medical Updates

I don't know if it's because Brad has grown up going to hundreds of doctors or what, but he seems to think Noah should see every medical practitioner possible. I think he's starting to try and search for reasons that Noah should go to the doctor. Right before our 6 month appt with the pediatrician, Brad was certain Noah had something wrong with his eye. He asked me to look at it, and I said, "well, maybe the left one is a tiny bit off... but, sweetie, I think he's fine..." in which he responded, "No, I think it's the right eye."

*sigh*

So he asked our wonderfully patient pediatrician, and he said if we're seeing anything, it's most like pseudo-something-or-other, which is basically gives the illusion of an eye problem. Brad was concerned because it runs in his family. His dad and niece have a condition where their eye goes slightly inward unless they have on glasses. So he was worried Noah had it. Our pediatrician referred us to an eye doctor to have it looked at, only because it's in the family.

I decided to take him to my friend's husband, Steve, for an appointment. I used to work with her and have known them a long time. He's so nice and incredibly smart, plus he's rockin a cool Jewish mustache. lol. Anyways, we took him to see Dr Steve yesterday. Noah was amazing and didn't mind too much. They dilated his eyes, and he wasn't too crazy about the eye drops, but he never cried. At the end of the appointment, Steve told us, "You have the best baby. He didn't cry once!" Then he asked to pick him up. Brad asked if he needed to move out of the chair to put Noah there. Steve responded with, "No, we're done. I just wanted to hold him." I saw Noah eyeing his mustache, which made me a tad nervous. After all of those compliments, all we needed was to have Noah pull his mustache to ruin it all.

And as I suspected, there's absolutely nothing wrong with Noah's eyes.

While Brad may be crazily overprotective (he admits it), I would much rather Noah have a daddy like that than one that doesn't care at all.

As for Noah's helmet, things are looking good. We had a visit recently, and everything is progressing well. I know this means nothing to y'all, but this is how it kind of breaks down in layman's terms.

A perfect head is around an 88. Noah's head was at 108 at the beginning. He's now at a 96. So we're "headed" (I know, I'm a dork) in the right direction. The only problem Mr Andy sees is that at the rate at which Noah seems to be growing (incredibly fast), he'll probably outgrow the helmet before his first birthday... which cuts the correction time short.

And to brag, yet again, all he and his assistant could keep saying was, "He's such a good baby! All he does is smile!" They're right. This baby only cries when something is really wrong. He must be making up those first couple of months to me.

Brad keeps telling him that his job is to make mommy happy.

So far, he's doing a great job. :)

Our Angel:

(sorry for the drool, y'all... it comes with the teeth...)

VERY Quick Noah Update!

We visited the helmet Dr today, and Noah has been going through a major growth spurt (when is he not??). His head grew in circumference 1/8 of an inch... which is a lot for only a couple of weeks. Anyway, his head is looking much better... much less flat. Poor baby.

So back onto that growth spurt... two weeks ago, he was sleeping 12 hours at night. He's now gone back to waking up every 3 to 4 hours and is starving! If this kid gets any bigger, I'm going to have to trade in his stroller for a wheelbarrow! Good thing my parents gave him a wagon for Christmas! :)

As for words, he has mastered "Mama", but I have a feeling it means something closer to "milk" than it does "mommy". Brad tries to get him to say, "dada", but Noah just looks at him funny and says, "Mama". It's pretty hilarious. As of last night, he has also started saying "Baby". Obviously, he doesn't know what "baby" means yet, but it's still cute.
I think I'm more thrilled with the fact that he tries to repeat what I say. I'll ask him to say, "Baby" or "Mama", and he spits it right back out at me. This stage is SO fun!

Parents are coming over for some Easter fun tonight. Will post pics later. I've made the most heavenly dessert ever. Seriously. I tried it, and I'm really fighting to urge to eat all of them. They're chocolate crepes filled with Nutella, slices of bananas and strawberries, and then Cool Whip on top. The recipe is by Paula Deen, if you're interested. But of course. Love that woman.

Spring Chicken

The weather here has been fabulous!

 

Noah has been getting so much more time outside lately, as a result. We're loving it! Yesterday, we went to pick up Madison from school early. We all decided to get lunch at Birkdale and walk around some. We, of course, stopped by the ol' Jewel Box . He got plenty of attention from the girls there. Noah totally loved it. He's such a flirt.

Afterwards, we hung out at my mom's for awhile. He showed off his sitting up skills. He doesn't need our help anymore, which is weird. I'm still overprotective and worried he'll topple over and hurt himself. Oh, and if you're wondering why he's not wearing his helmet in these, it's because we're having some "issues" with it. He's still totally cool with wearing it. Unfortunately, my baby is hot natured, like his daddy. We thought the worst part was him getting little heat rashes in between his rolls. Nope. Try his head. He gets a prickly, itchy rash from his helmet. How do I know it itches? He rubs his head back and forth on things, then cries. It's so sad. So to prevent this, we're cutting back his time in it. And that's that.

He also got to watch Brad plant our garden this year, mostly tomatoes (because as it turns out, we don't eat much squash...) and a few peppers. He's also gotten to spend more time with the pups. Noah thinks they're absolutely hysterical. He grins and laughs and reaches out to pet them now. So cute.

Tonight, we were able to go to our friends' bonfire at their house. They have these pretty often, but it always depends on Brad's schedule and how Noah has been that day. Today was a good day. He seemed to enjoy the fire. He wasn't too sure what to think of all the little people running around. He kept watching them, very interested, but he seemed a little unsure. Alice is so cute with him. She's a little over a year old and cute as can be. Poor Noah just isn't used to having friends his size yet. And yes, he weighs more than she does. *sigh*

I promise I don't sit around feeding him sticks of butter.

 

Jim and Jess (especially Jim) are the type of people that own odd animals. They don't just have a couple of dogs. No, they have fish and birds and bunnies and even a bearded dragon. So it really shouldn't have been such a surprise when a chicken happened to come by for a visit. Somehow, we were all amazed at it, since it seemed to really like Jim. But really. He's the kind of guy that would bring home a chicken. It sat by the fire to warm up, then sat with Jim on his chair. He/she was kind of small, but we're positive it was a chicken. It clucked.

The Helmet Saga

Obviously, you know Noah got his helmet, he looks adorable, etc.

Well, we went to the helmet guy this past Thursday, and he already sees improvement! We thought his little head was already looking better too, but we weren't sure if it's just because we're his parents and want to see improvement.

He's doing so well. He's sleeping in it just fine and everything. The only problem we're having is that my baby is very hot natured. Noah developed a heat rash on the back of his head and right around the back of his neck. So unfortunately, we had to take the helmet off for a couple of days to let it clear up.

I finally used some common sense and put baby powder on his head and in the helmet. My poor baby looks like he has some kind of weird dandruff. I also put some Butt Paste on his neck to help with the itching (btw, that stuff works wonders on everything).

For those of you curious as to what his head looks like without the helmet and why he even needs it, here's a sample:

See that little flat spot? That's the reason. :)

"Mom, let me see!"

So while we waited for his head to get better, we enjoyed the phenomenal weather this weekend. Noah went to the park for the first time. His Aunt Madison spent the night with us, and he loved having an extra playmate around. :)

The helmet is now back on. The only rashes he seems to have left are the ones between his rolls...

what $1500 will buy...

In case you were wondering, for $1500 you could get:

A major shopping spree...

A fabulous vacation...

OR...

a helmet for your baby!

(who wants any of that other stuff, anyway??)

Yep. Noah finally has his helmet. Honestly, he looks like a future linebacker anyway, but with the Panthers helmet, it just makes it complete.

Noah has yet to be bothered by it. He almost acts as if he doesn't know it's there. He'll play, roll around, sleep, whatever... no fussing. We're supposed to be doing a week of "weaning" with it, where he'll gradually work his way up to wearing it 23 hrs a day.

Personally, I think he's adorable. The cutest helmet baby ever.

The Helmet Saga

Can I just say that health insurance companies get on my nerves?
I'm very thankful to have it, because we'd be in big trouble without. But still...

As you know, we were told that Noah was going to need a cranial band (aka "baby helmet") at his 4 month checkup. He's now 7 months old. And we still don't have it.

To make a long story very short, we're having to pay for it ourselves. Thank goodness we're not going with Cranial Tech. Even though they're supposed to be the best of the best, they would've cost us $3800 just for the helmet. Yep. We could buy a lot of nice stuff for that amount. Instead, we're selling on of our cars and using the money to pay for Noah's helmet from the just-as-good prosthetic place. This will cost us less than half of what Cranial Tech would've charged.
Insurance sent us a letter okay-ing the Cranial Tech people (except they'd be considered out-of-network), then they denied coverage for the less expensive place... which they referred us to. ???
So to sum up, we're filing an appeal with our insurance company (letters of severity from the doctors included), hoping that they'll realize they're being stupid and pay us back.

If  not, it's ok. We'll be fine. It's just super annoying that it's taken this long to get to this point.

Unfortunately, this means he might have to wear it longer, since his head is less "pliable". The plus side... we went for a second head scan yesterday, and while his head has grown in the last almost 4 weeks, it has grown length-wise and not width (which means his head is getting rounder and not flatter). So a big yay for that. Fortunately, Noah doesn't seem to mind hats, so hopefully, this won't be too bad for him. I hate that he has to have it, but he'll be the cutest little helmet baby ever.

On another note... he's now 25 lbs. We haven't measured his length, but he's a tall little guy too. He definitely is longer than my upper body. He's awfully heavy, but he's just so darn giggly and cute, that all I want to do is swoop him up and carry him everywhere!

Maybe this means I'll look awesome by my cousin's wedding in May. Let's hope!