Plagiocephaly, Torticollis, and a Helmet...Oh my!

Raise your hand if you know what the first two words of this title even mean!  If anything, being a mom to twin preemies has definitely expanded my vocabulary because I sure didn't know either of these two words a year ago.  So Anthony is sporting a helmet these days because he has plagiocephaly (a flat spot on his head, in laymen's terms).  Aryanna also has plagiocephaly, but hers is very mild so she doesn't need a helmet.  They both ended up with flat spots on the back of their heads on the right side for a variety of reasons.  One reason is that because they were preemies, their heads were even softer at birth than that of a term baby and then they had to spend extended amounts of time in their isolettes in the NICU.  While in the NICU they ended up looking right a lot of the time:  the door was to their right, Jose and I are both right-handed so that's the side we usually did their diaper changes on, and a lot of times they were placed on their right side for digestion purposes.  By the time we got home, they preferred to look right.  We did a lot of positional stuff (turning their heads after they fell asleep, putting toys on their left, etc) and that did help some.  Once Aryanna started sitting up by herself, her head started rounding out a lot more.  It took Anthony longer to sit on his own because of his brain bleed, so that's a factor.  He also has a condition called torticollis (the left side of his neck is tighter so his head tilts to the left - we also think the brain bleed is contributing factor in this with his right-sided weakness).  Torticollis and plagiocephaly often go together, so with that in the mix as well Anthony's head just hasn't rounded out as much as Aryanna's and he has moderate flattening.  We have a certain window of time while his head is still easily shaped for the helmet to be effective, so here we are!  When we went back for his first check-up after a week, there was already improvement, so that's encouraging.  He has to wear the helmet 23 hours a day for about 4 to 6 months.  Not so fun, but we keep reminding ourselves that he will thank us later when the back of his head is round.  Here's our cutie sporting his helmet (we're ordering a decal to put on it that says "I do my own stunts"!)  Might as well embrace it, right?