Reid has been diagnosed with right torticollis (which is essentially a tight, weak neck on the right side) and plagiocephaly (baby flat head).
Yep, it's all pretty common, and indeed totally fixable.
Fixable with lots of stretches--1,000 seconds of stretching per day minimum--and a helmet. Like this one.
I'm suddenly reminded of the Carlos Mencia bit, where he says "I wear the helmet but I don't wear the hat." Some of you are giggling right now; others are googling. It's funny. Go look it up.
So my baby is going to wear the helmet.
Nope, doesn't help to hear that you know lots of babies who wore helmets and now have beautifully spherical and symmetrical heads.
Was it your baby? Okay then.
Because this is my baby, and seeing my baby in a helmet might just break my heart.
And I'll fight like hell to fix whatever it is that needs fixing.
But this is a lot to take in.
I sat on the mat in the infant physical therapy room. The therapist was very kind, but she spoke to me like I was an infant myself.
"I can see you're probably overwhelmed," she cooed.
No, not overwhelmed. Just taking it all in.
I saved overwhelmed for the car.
Overwhelmed because I have friends with kids who have bigger issues to tackle than this--I chastised myself for my sadness; overwhelmed because I watched a 3-year-old girl in the waiting room maneuver her own wheelchair, Barbie Princess braces on her little legs; overwhelmed because when you have a baby, you don't think there will be any issues.
And then there are.
So yesterday I stayed a little sad, a little pity partyish, a little on edge as Reid screamed through our stretches.
We may have only hit 500 seconds.
But today, I'll be damned if he didn't start to turn his head to the right just a bit.
And if he can smile through it, then so can I.
Pity party be gone. Mama Bear is ready to fight.
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