April 29, 2011

Yesterday we had our long awaited appointment with the baby's orthopedist.  It had been three months since her last x-ray and we were hopeful to see improvement and eager to see what the next plan of action would include.  I am always in awe over Psalm 139:13 "For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb,"  I think about this little girl who was in my womb for nine months, who stubbornly refused to turn when the Dr. tried some excruciating thing I can not even recall the name of now--but, because of that procedure we were alerted to how low my fluid was. . .I was hospitalized a month before her due date and stayed there for a week before we had my first c-section...and thankfully, she was small and healthy and perfect.

Even at birth her frog position was evident

Shortly thereafter, they performed an ultrasound on her hips and they decided to "watch her," because she was in the gray area--in terms of hip dysplacia.  To me, that sounded a lot like she was fine because truthfully that's what I wanted to hear...so maybe I dropped the ball a little when it came to not insisting we do the next ultrasound at two months instead of three; sigh.  A month wouldn't have made much difference--I'm sure.  So, here we are with this perfectly healthy little girl who has hip dysplacia but she wasn't formally diagnosed until five months old.

The harness keeps her hips in the frog position.

I have since come to realize that although she was in the harness 24/7 for six months, I hardly have any pictures of her in it--I know that sounds horrible because she is my last one--her babyhood is just as important, just as special as the others but for whatever reason--it sometimes pained me to photograph her, even though she was fine.  She scooted and did the army crawl and pulled herself up and stood despite this harness holding her back.  The Dr. said she would catch up, and she did!  She was walking the week before her first birthday after having had the brace off for only a month.

It was after they took her out of the harness that we switched Drs. because we wanted a second opinion.  You see, the x-rays showed there was still a problem and this time no amount of wishing it away or prolonging the inevitable was in my little girl's best interest.  However, the thought of her in a cast or another type of brace full time was breaking my heart! So we did some research and made the trek to UCLA's Pediatric Center in Santa Monica and we have been very happy there.

We haven't been the greatest about wearing the brace during all of her sleep time but we were all happy to see there has been a slight improvement and a cast this summer is definitely not in her future!!! We had to commit to really give her more sleep time in this brace to see what can happen over the next three months--because that appointment will be the big one.  Her x-ray will determine whether or not surgery is necessary to shave the socket, which would then be followed by a full body cast as she recovers.

So last night, we did two things: maneuvered her pajamas so she couldn't get out of the brace and took some pictures because like it or not--this is His plan for her.  God knew this was in the works for her the minute she was knit in my womb breech position and all. . .and what will the lesson be for her? For me? For us?  Only time will tell. . .but for now, please keep this happy little girl in your prayers--a lot can happen in three months and we are praying that it just might be healing.  Psalm 30:2 "O LORD my God, I cried out to You, And You healed me."

This was before we used a pair of her brother's pj bottoms on top of the brace.

 And because I think it is important that you see, this brace does nothing to slow her down.  She is very determined--named after her Grandma Ray for a good reason!! Check this out: