8 months old!!

She is getting so close to crawling!!

McKinley's Head Update

The last time I updated about McKinley's neck and head issues we were waiting for a referral to Cranial Technologies for a helmet.  We finally got it and scheduled an appointment with them.  They took pictures and measurements of her head and of course they were quite adamant that her head shape was severe and that she definitely needed a helmet (We knew they would say that.  Our pediatrician warned us to not be swayed by their insistence.  Ha ha.)  They told us they would have their insurance coordinator call us in about 2 days to tell us what our insurance would cover and what our out of pocket expense would be and then we could make a decision. 

Two days later, we got the call we were waiting for and the news wasn't good.  We have amazing in-network coverage (no deductible, low copays, & 100% coverage) but because of that our out-of-network coverage is dismal.  Our deductible is extremely high ($10,000!!!) and until that is met we have no coverage.  Can you guess what network Cranial Tech falls under??  Out-of-network.  Of course!!  So, they offered us their "fantastic discounted rate" of $2,500.  So, we had a difficult decision to make and I agonized over it for nearly a week.  Is it really necessary to spend the money for a helmet or will her head eventually round out by itself??  Will we regret not doing it and will her head be oddly shaped for the rest of her life??  Is there another alternative??  That is when I began researching and discovered something called Craniosacral therapy (there's a definition of it here).  But basically a therapist can adjust the bones of the skull and help them go back into proper alignment.  So right then I made the decision not to do the helmet and scheduled an appointment for McKinley to have craniosacral therapy. 

It has been a month now and she has had one appointment with a craniosacral therapist and two with a chiropractor and the difference is astounding.  You can hardly tell there was a problem and you really have to look to see the asymmetries which used to be blatantly obvious before.  Before we started, she had a difference of 9mm between both sides of her head when they measured (they recommend a helmet if there is a difference of  >8mm).  Two week ago, it was only 4mm and she gets measured again tomorrow and I'm sure it's even less.  I can now say that I am so happy with the decision we made.  We didn't have to deal with the time, financial and emotional commitment of a helmet yet her head is still moving towards a normal shape.  Her head looks better every day and of course she just gets cuter and cuter.

This week I am going to take pictures of her head to compare with the ones that cranial tech took and I will post them just to show how awesome her head is doing!