Updates on... Everything!

Torticollis-
We have been going to physical therapy once a week ever since we found out he had torticollis. Kayden has responded really well to physical therapy. Ms. Kelly works on stretching out his neck muscles and also works with developmental milestones that he should be reaching.
Kayden can freely look from side to side now, before he would only look to his right because the muscle was so tight he couldn't turn his head the other way. We are still stretching the muscles but for the most part that part of the torticollis is fixed. We are still working on the tilt part though. He still tilts his head a little and still holds his head down rather than lifting it up. He has a hard time holding it up for long periods such as when you put him on his belly and have him push himself up. I also noticed this weekend that he has started to hold himself up a lot longer than he use to. One of the exercises we do to help this is roll him on his right side and hold toys above his head so that he will look up. This is an exercise that is a battle for us because he HATES doing it.
There is no word as to when they think he can stop physical therapy. I think we will probably be going for a while, which is fine by me. I really like having them work on different stuff with him and then showing me what to do. I think they will do another evaluation of him sometime in March, but I'm not sure.

Sleeping-
We are still having issues with sleeping. I have had a very hard time doing the cry it out method. I know many people who have done the cry it out method and it has worked very easily for them. We've had a struggle with it though. Kayden just screams and screams bloody murder. It's not the "i'm just tired so i'll whine a little bit", it's a full out scream which I am having a hard time dealing with. I hate the thought of him laying in his crib all by himself screaming, not knowing if I'm going to come get him or not. We've decided for the time being to let him continue sleeping with us until about 8 months, in May, and then work on sleep training again. I know it will be harder, but I feel like at that age he will have a little bit more of an understanding when we talk to him and it will be easier to do a gradual weaning of sorts. I've read several different things about sitting next to the crib and each night getting further and further away from the crib, etc. We will see. I know he will get it eventually and I'm willing to wait. Sleeping through the night has gotten a lot better though. We usually try to give him a bath around 8:30-9 (or an hour after his bottle that is around 7:30ish.) He will then usually sleep until 11-1130 when we give him another bottle. If he doesn't wake up for this bottle, we usually wake him up so that he isn't waking us up in the middle of the night. After we give him this bottle, he will (most of the time) sleep until 7ish. At this time he will take another bottle and a lot of times go back to sleep until 9. If by 6 months he hasn't cut out his 11 bottle we will start cutting it out. We usually put the rice in his 9 o clock bottle but if we don't wake up around 1130 he will eventually wake us up at 2:30. We are finally back to taking naps in our swing also. Kayden took about a 3 month hiatus from his swing where he wasn't a fan of the swing. Luckily, I can now put him in his swing and he will take a nap so that I don't have to hold him through the whole nap time.

Milestones-
Kayden laughs ALL.THE.TIME. We can always do something to make him laugh and I love it! We are finally getting to where we can get him to roll from back to belly pretty consistently.Due to his neck he has had a lot of trouble rolling over. You have to use your neck muscles in order to turn your head when you roll and to reach your arm across your body to get up the momentum to roll, which is what he is struggling with. He has rolled over twice about a month ago but we have had a hard time getting him to do it again. This past weekend he has rolled over multiple times but you can tell he still really has to work at it and we have to really motivate him with toys in order to get him to do it. He has been doing it continuously though and we don't have to physically help him anymore. Last week at physical therapy, Ms. Kelly only worked on rolling in hopes to get him to start rolling more often. It seems to be working so far. I feel like I can say confidently that we have rolling over now. Kayden's been sitting up for quite a while now, with assistance. He can sit up by himself for a little bit but falls either to the sides or backwards. He's getting there though!

Physical Therapy

Well, we just got back from physical therapy! Kayden did good considering his appointment time was RIGHT at the same time he was supposed to eat. Luckily, the first visit the PT just went over some things to do at home with him and how to position him when he is doing his normal routine. So while she was going over all that we fed him. Then, she started doing things with him and he was NOT a fan. Unfortunately, he's just going to have to get over it. The PT was GREAT with him though so I wasn't as stressed and anxious as I thought I would be. And she looks a lot like me so I think that helped with him being comfortable with her.

She showed us some stretches to do at home with him and she did just a normal developmental assessment. He looks great considering his neck, which she even said that it's not as bad as "normal" torticolous patients. He apparently just leans his head to the side rather than leaning and dropping (or something like that... she started to confuse me when she was talking about this). She was impressed with how well he is already holding his head up and that he would turn his head to the opposite side of the torticolous and keep it there with some guidance. We told her some things we were already doing (thanks to a friend who is an occupational therapist) and said we were on the right track. We have already noticed improvement with just doing the things that our friend told us to do so now putting in the stretches should help even more.

We pretty much have to have him do tummy time any time he is awake for as long as he will tolerate it. We also have to prop his head up anytime he is sitting in his carseat, swing, bouncy seat, etc. Doing all of this will help him stretch the muscle that is affected and strengthens it. We will be going back weekly until she sees enough improvement to where he will just need some follow up appointments to make sure he is still on the right track.

One of my major concerns about having to take him to PT was the cost. With Nick working at Starbucks we weren't sure how well our insurance would be with covering something like physical therapy. Luckily, we got good news today though. This reminded me that GOD will ALWAYS provide. He knew that Kayden would need physical therapy, and while we would obviously find a way to pay for it no matter what, we found out that our insurance is GREAT (in the words of the PT). Apparently, most insurances cover 20 visits for physical therapy, 20 visits for speech therapy, and 20 visits for occupational therapy. However, our insurance covers unlimited visits until the age of 7. We have a $300 deductible which she said we would meet pretty quickly but she said since we have unlimited visits we won't have to worry about getting the most out of each visit, we can just take our time and go as many times as we would like and she doesn't have to feel rushed with trying to make sure he is "back to normal" within so many visits. I should have known God was in control of all this before Kayden was even born!

If you need any recommendations for physical or occupational therapy... I definitely recommend this place. It's just for pediatric patients, and the staff there is wonderful! Everyone was very nice and helpful and LOVED Kayden. Even the other children there were so sweet! This one little boy while we were in the waiting room kept coming up to Kayden and patting him on the stomach and kept giving a book to Kayden. He was such a sweet little boy and was so easy with him. While I was nervous about the germ aspect, I realized sometimes i'm just going to have to let go. I can't keep him in a bubble, and the mom later told us that her children love babies.. so I feel like we made this little boys day by letting him interact with Kayden. I'm looking forward to getting to know the staff and other patients better while they take care of our baby. On the Move pediatric therapy is where we are going.. and like I said they are great! I am so thankful that we finally know somewhat of the direction we are going and that we do not have to stress over the financial part. We can just focus on getting our baby boy to where he needs to be!

I'm looking forward to our next appointment next Thursday where she will do more stretches and exercises with him. Today was more of an evaluative appointment where she saw where he was so she could figure out what she needs to do next. Next appointment should be more of her doing different things with him to help stretch out his muscles. In the meantime, we will try out the stretches she gave us.

It's also amazing to see how God puts people in our lives (This is such a random blog post... but I just felt the need to add this). We have just recently been hanging out with a guy Nick knew from work and his wife who is an occupational therapist. She did an internship in a place where she only worked with infants which is how she knew about torticolous. She has graciously offered to come over to our house to do the stretches with Kayden if I have a hard time getting him to do them. She also gave us a lot of things to do before we went to physical therapy that has already helped. I just feel more comfortable knowing that if I don't think that I am doing something right or if I am having a hard time getting him to do the stretches that I have someone to call on to help me. I am so thankful for God's perfect timing, and his provisions!

Torticollis

**if you scroll through my pictures, you will notice that he is always leaning his head to the same side****

Ever since Kayden has been old enough to start holding his head up, we have noticed that he leans his head to one side. I thought that this was because he was only 2ish months old and that they just didn't have strong enough head muscles yet. However, as he got better at holding his head up I noticed he still did it. Many people commented on it but I still just thought it was because his muscles weren't strong enough yet. We were starting to notice though that the left side of his face was fuller than the right side, along with the neck muscles. It was obvious that his left neck muscles were much more fuller than the right. My mom was showing pictures of Kayden to her boss today though and her boss asked my mom if Kayden had torticollis. Her grandson had it and he would constantly lean his head to one direction. My mom called me and told me so I decided I should go ahead and call the pediatrician instead of waiting for his 4 month appointment to bring it up. The more I read about it, the more obvious it was to me that he had it. We took him to the pediatrician where she confirmed that he did in fact have torticollis. The receptionist has called the physical therapy place to see if they take our insurance but had to leave a message, but either way we will start physical therapy soon in hopes of correcting it.

Some information on torticollis:
What is torticollis?

Torticollis means "twisted neck," and if a child has this condition, her head will be tilted to one side while the chin is turned to the other side. It's also sometimes called wryneck. While it may look painful, it usually isn't.
When a baby is born with the condition, it's called congenital torticollis. (There's also a condition called acquired torticollis that can develop at a later time. In some cases of acquired torticollis, the chin may be turned to the same side as the head.)
About 1 in 250 infants are born with torticollis. (Ten to 20 percent of babies with torticollis also have hip dysplasia, in which the hip joint is malformed.)

What causes congenital torticollis?

Congenital torticollis is most often due to tightness in the muscle that connects the breastbone and the collarbone to the skull. (It's called the sternocleidomastoid muscle). This is called congenital muscular torticollis. This tightness might have developed because of the way your baby was positioned in the uterus (with the head tilted to one side) or because the muscles were damaged during delivery.

Why does this happen?
Usually it's how the baby might be positioned in the womb or through some kind of trauma during delivery. This trauma or injury causes a shortening or contracture of the sternocleidomastoid muscle. If you notice the baby's head tilting to one side and they have trouble tilting or turning to the other take them to the doctor right away. Torticollis is easily corrected when found early.

Is it serious? Find out fast
Much less commonly, congenital torticollis is caused by abnormalities in the bones of the neck (the cervical vertebrae). The bones may be abnormally formed, stuck together (fused), or a combination of both. This condition is known as Klippel-Feil syndrome.
It's important to know whether Klippel-Feil is what's causing a baby's neck problem because many babies with this syndrome have other problems, especially with hearing and the kidneys. Also, the stretching exercises recommended for muscular torticollis are not only ineffective but potentially dangerous for a child with Klippel-Feil syndrome.
In rare cases, congenital torticollis may be inherited. Or it may be the result of a more serious underlying condition, such as a brain or spinal cord tumor that damages the nervous system or muscles.

How will I know if my baby has torticollis?

You'll probably notice that your baby holds her head to one side and has limited neck movement. Another telltale sign is a small bump on the side of her neck.
Congenital muscular torticollis is usually diagnosed within the first two months of a baby's life. Even if parents don't spot it, a pediatrician will.
Babies with torticollis may also develop positional plagiocephaly (asymmetrical head shape) because they'll often sleep with their head turned to the side.
In addition to a physical exam, the doctor may need to order X-rays of the neck to determine which form of torticollis your child has. The doctor may also order other tests, such as an ultrasound of the hips or kidneys, depending on the type of torticollis.

How is it treated?

Your child's doctor may refer you to a physical therapist or an orthopedic surgeon (bone and joint doctor).
Congenital muscular torticollis is typically treated with stretching and positioning. You'll need to perform these exercises on your baby several times a day. The moves aren't complicated, but make sure you understand them and are comfortable doing them before you leave the doctor's or physical therapist's office.
If your baby has muscular torticollis, you'll want to provide as many opportunities as possible for her to turn her head to the side that she normally doesn't turn to. If she has trouble turning her head to the right, for example, you could lay her on the changing table so you're standing at her right side. And position her in the crib so she has to look to her right to see anyone approaching her.
It's also important to give your baby plenty of time on her tummy when she's awake, to help develop the muscles in her neck.

How long does it take to see results?

As long as your baby's muscular torticollis is discovered early enough – ideally by the age of 2 or 3 months – and you're following the prescribed stretching program, you'll probably see improvement within weeks. The condition should be fully corrected by age 1.
If, however, the muscles don't return to their normal length and your baby doesn't have a normal range of motion by the time she's 18 months old, your doctor may refer you to an orthopedic surgeon, who may recommend surgery to lengthen the muscles. Surgery is performed in about 15 percent of cases.
Information from http://www.babycenter.com/0_torticollis_10912.bc?page=2

It was hard to hear that my baby has something wrong with him, but I am thankful that it is not more serious. He is a happy baby so I am thankful that this does not affect his mood or disposition, and he isn't in pain. We just need to get it corrected so that he does not have problems in the future.