The Helmet

TIME TO CELEBRATE!!

Drum roll, please....

Our baby boy is now HELMET FREE!!!  :)  And happy, happy all are we!!  4 months is now over!

I would like to reflect upon this time with the helmet in order to celebrate the graduation of it, and also in hopes of helping anyone that may go through what our baby (and we) did for the last 4 months.

Boy.  Where do I begin?

To begin with, it was worth it all.  It really was.  And I would highly recommend this to any parent that is facing the decision about what to do with their baby's flattened head (and in our case, shifting forehead as well).

Knowing that our little boy's head will not stand out or be noticed as it once would have being moderately abnormal is really encouraging!  He can enjoy a close buzz cut, if he so chooses, and be proud of his more symmetrical shape.

Many people actually found him to be even cuter with the blue helmet accenting his big blue eyes.  Although I personally would not have described it as "cute", it was not as clunky and hideous as I had first envisioned.  And we did in fact engage in many conversations with strangers as a result from them noticing the helmet.

I do want to be honest with the emotional side of it though.  As you know, it was difficult for me to embrace.  "Difficult" is putting it lightly especially if I consider the first month or so.

Both the lack of contact with any part of his head and most of his face for 23 and a half hours a day for 4 months was VERY hard for me.  I never got used to that.  In fact, nursing I think was the hardest.  This is a time where it was literally staring me in the face (and pressing into my arm) for 10 to 15  minutes 5 times as day and there was no escaping it.

The cleaning every day, followed by a really quick bath was just one more thing to remember and do but it was not overwhelming.

On the positive side, he, however, did not seem to mind after he had made the adjustment about a week into it.  And if it had to be him or me, I'm SO thankful HE was the one that was more ok with it!

This process with the helmet serves as a reminder to me that blessings in life can sometimes (often!) come looking like coal instead of a diamond...and it is indeed time that transforms the former into the latter.