Gteh 420

The fused leaves is not normal, but it is a fairly common too. The slow growth you are experiencing is because you are over watering, a lot. Since you are using a pot too big for the plant, as a consequence you water too much; this is why most people use a party cup for seedlings. Give them a cup of water and let the soil dry up before watering again.

I would not top again but I would have bent the stems to let the secondaries get more light and to promote their growth. Like you said it's the 2nd week after flipping and your heavy defoliation did slow her flowering process , I would not top as at that stage the plant will put more energy into recovering than into lateral growth and the risk is a weak flowering 😓