Cranial Technologies

Well, as most of you know, we went to Dallas on Thursday night for the kids' consultation for the DOC bands (cranial helmets). The kids were great on the road trip and we only had to stop once to change them and get their cereal mixed up, etc. One of us rode in the back with them the whole time and tried to keep them awake :) That worked for a little bit! We got to the hotel about 9:30 and this was our first hotel visit. We let the kids sleep in bed with us and everyone slept great except Mommy! I woke up every single time one of them moved! Not good! About 2:00 am I heard Kason go to the bathroom, so I got up to change him.....as soon as I got his diaper off, he shot me and the couch with poo! It was everywhere, so I had to get Jason up to help us! (We did get it off the couch!) As I was calling Jason in to help, Kason decided to pee all over the wall! Then, he laughed :) which is what he always does at just the right time! Anyway, we made it through the rest of the night without any more poo mishaps!

We got up the next morning and got ready for the appointment at Cranial Technologies. The appt. was at 2:00 and we were there all the way until 6:00 pm! (We had lots of time to play on our tummies and explore the place)

First, they took photos of both of their heads in all kinds of positions. Then, they did measurements. It turns out that Kinley and Kason's head are both the same degree of bad. I won't put all the technical lingo in here, but they are both bad and both heads do need help. What is going on now is that they are continuing to grow wider but not longer. Their heads are both completely square and I didn't realize how much they were alike until I saw the photos! Their heads also slope upward instead of rounding out because of the flatness. You can really tell from the top and from the back and side, but not necessarily the front... yet. If we didn't get these problems fixed, they could experience all kinds of problems, headaches, jaw problems (which leads to all kinds of things) etc. Plus the fact the fact that they would look funky!

So, we decided to proceed with the helmets and went ahead and paid and ordered them. We pick up their helmets on April 21st and will stay the night in Dallas to make sure they can sleep with them, etc. They have to wear them for 23 hours a day! Poor kids :( After we decided to order them, they had to be scanned by this big machine thing. They had to put what looked like white pantyhose over their whole face (see Kason's photo) and be scanned to get the exact measurements and head shape for their helmets. After that was done, we were free to go. Normally, it wouldn't take 4 hours, but there were 2 of them and we didn't want to have to come back to Dallas just to get the scan. So, we asked for them to do everything at once. Everybody in the office was extremely nice and very accomodating. We also met some other parents while we were there and even a little 5 month old named Kasen!

I've been having a hard time with all of this, but I know it's for the best :( I know it's just going to be very hard when they first get them and it's going to make me so sad. The nurse said to just think of it as braces for your head. And she also said that it is a lot harder on the parents than the kids. They don't even know what's going on, so that made me feel a teensy bit better, but not much.

Starting the week of April 21st, we will have to travel to Dallas once a week (and not on weekends) to get their DOC bands adjusted. Their brains grow very rapidly from birth to 6 or 7 months and then slow down a bit. After they turn 7 months old, we will just have to go every other week. Hopefully, their heads will grow fast and they will only have to wear them 4 months or less!

If you would like to see what the facility is like or see what the DOC bands look like, just go to www.cranialtech.com