Plagiocephaly Measurements

Getting the boys all measured up for their helmets was actually kinda interesting.

At the first appointment they did all the using rulers and stuff to get numbers. Then at the second appointment it was all electronic. They use a little scanner to make a digital image of their heads so they can make a mold out of it.

However the scanner only picks up white. So they take a white stocking and put it over the boys' heads. Then the cut out holes in the stocking for the face and the ears. Makes them look like robbers. Then to ensure that the scanner doesn't pick up anything around the head they take a black cape and drape it around their neck. Well I guess its not really a cape because it hangs down all the way around, not just on the back. Then they take a strap and wrap it around their head, under the nose in front and circles around the back of their head. On the back of the strap is some Velcro that a sensor gets attached to. The sensor tracks head movement so that as the boys wiggle their head around the scanner adjusts to the movement.

The boys did not especially like the process, but they were not too bad. The part that made them real mad was putting the sock over their head the first time to figure out where to cut out holes for their face and ears. Then the doctor had a little plastic train that made some noises and that kept the boys occupied pretty well while he did the scans.

Once the scans were complete they got a little cranky again. The scan produces a wire frame image of the skull. So the doctor had to go through the image and clean up little spots and make sure that everything was good. It only took him a couple of minutes after each boy was done, but while he was looking at the image the boy that just got scanned had to sit on my lap with the stocking still over their head and wires still attached.

The doctor said that with kids this young he tries to deliver the helmets in 10 days instead of the standard 14 days. But due to the doctor's schedule we had to wait the full 14 days to get the helmets...