Cranial Band Appointment.

I can't believe it's taken me this long to write about Peyton's first real Cranial Band appointment!  It's been almost two weeks since he had it, but here's the scoop.

The orthotist measured Peyton's head circumference and found that he drastically improved in the four weeks he had been wearing it (his measurements were compared to those taken on Oct 20th when he was fitted for the band).  The orthotist seemed a bit surprised by this, and said he must've gone through a growth spurt.  (Although I SWEAR he's going through one now, and 9 months is typically when they go through one... he'll be 9 months tomorrow!)

The whole "unknown" about the cranial band, is how long he'd have to wear it for.  And that all depended on how fast he grew.  And the later you start the band, the longer you typically have to wear it, because growth slows down as babies get older.  Average age for a baby to receive "treatment" is 4-6 months.  Peyton was 7.5 months when he started.  See why we're SO happy about this great news?!

Details:
Peyton received the band on Nov 2nd & has been wearing it for 23 hours a day since Nov 5th.

He was first measured on October 20th, coming in at .93mm.  At his appt on Nov 30th, he measured in at .88mm.  I have yet to really understand what all the measurements mean, but all I know is, anywhere between .81-.92 is considered average.  So he was barely outside of average to start with.  Now, he's completely within the average range!

After adjusting and shaving the band down to compensate for his growth, the orthotist said to wear it for another three more weeks, then come back for more measurements.  He's pretty sure by then he'll be released from wearing it during the day and go to nights only!  Not sure how long he'll have to wear it at night, but I can't imagine it'd be more than another three week stretch.

At this point, we're only one week away from his next appt!  We're super excited to see how it goes, but man, this has gone by so fast and it's been so painless (other than our first outing where I wasn't used to it, I will blog about that too!)  It's been incredibly worth it!  As most of you know, I was so worried it wouldn't help or it would barely help, or that it would even make it worse somehow.  To see the improvement and how painless it's been for him, I can't even tell you how happy I am that we went ahead with it.

Random, but Dec 21st is his next appt date, and that date rang a bell in my head.  I realized that Dec 21 will be the second time we receive good news (hopefully!)  Last year on Dec 21, we learned that my low-lying placenta had moved up and was no longer a problem.  So we're shooting two-for-two!  I like to look at it as an early Christmas present.  :)

Tomorrow Peyton turns 9 months and has his 9 month check-up as well.  More to come on that!