we are home

This morning didn't go as expected, but as the day has gone on, I'm not as upset about it ... in fact, it's a bit more on the positive side than I realized ...

She went in for surgery ... anesthesia, the whole bit ... but ...

Dr Olney was unable to reduce Annabelle's hip ... (i.e. he couldn't get it to align, and her right hip is still out of place).  Her left hip is still where it needs to be and he said it looks good.
So ... instead of casting her today ... we are home.  She will continue the brace in order to provide support to her left hip, but we will wean her out of the brace.  She can now have 4 hours out of the brace a day.

This fall, when she is older, and her bones are more mature, she will have an OPEN reduction (instead of the closed reduction that was scheduled for today).  It is just like it sounds ... they will go into her hip ... clean out any tissue that is obstructing the joint and preventing it from aligning, and reduce the hip that way.  Check out this link for more info.
Afterwards, she'll be in the spica cast for 6 weeks, and then back to the brace she's in now.  No re-casting.  Just one surgery.   Hopefully, that will fix her hip. 

In the meantime, not having her dislocated hip braced will not affect the outcome.  Dr Olney says this ... he's been doing this for 20+ years ... he's the Chief of Orthopedic Surgery ... I trust him.  (okay, mom?)

Ultimate Goal:  Healthy Hips, full function.

They told us to expect her to be veeeeeeeery sleepy for the rest of the day, and she might have a rough 24 hours. 

I had planned to do a photo tour of our day ... (last photo of legs, etc...) but since that is irrelevant now ... I'll do a mini tour ...

Annabelle couldn't have any breastmilk after 1:30am.  She could have clear liquids (i.e. Pedialyte) until 4am, so I woke her at 3:30 and she drank 5oz.  She didn't really wake up, but she did drink.

Here we go!

scared Mommy, hungry baby

I'll be okay mommy, and aren't I cute?  Won't you please feed me?

Sleeeeeepy baby in the recovery room.  It took removing her IV (in her elbow at the bottom of the pic) to wake her up. She nursed after that.  They told us she might be very sleepy for the rest of the day ...

After arriving home ... my happy, happy girl.

She's zonked out now, and snoring ... hopefully the rest of today and tonight go well.

The wait is over.

I am so glad that today is here.
The building anticipation of the last four weeks is quickly coming to a finish. Over the entire weekend, I just wanted today to be here. I want the surgery over. I want to know that my baby is okay. I want to hear the good news that they were able to reduce her hip and she is in the cast.

Her surgery is scheduled for 7:30. We have to be there at 6:00.
Her cutoff for milk was 1:30, and for clear liquids (Pedialyte) was 4:00.
She normally sleeps from 9:30ish to 5am. I didn't wake her at 1:00 for a breastfeed (mostly because I went to bed around midnight), but I did pick her up at 3:30 for a bottle of Pedialyte. It took 30 minutes, but she drank 5oz. It was weird giving her a bottle.

She's snoozing away now - oblivious to the upcoming events for the day. I'm glad for that. I'm happy every day that this was caught early so that we can be on the road to recovery before she ever remembers it.

I've never prayed this much in my life. Right now I have an eerie sense of calm about me. I hope it continues throughout the day.

adios, turtle shell!

I have started affectionately referring to the Rhino cruiser as Annabelle's turtle shell. In fact, the next one she has, I think I will design to look like a turtle shell --- it sure feels like one.

I emailed Dr Olney's nurse last night. We hadn't thought to ask if Annabelle needed to stay in her Rhino prior to surgery. We assumed she did, but after thinking, we wondered if a couple days out of it would make any difference. We're both longing so much for some cuddly snuggles with our tiny princess. She's been in some form of brace for 8 weeks now. She's 15 weeks old. That's more than half her life.

I got a response back early this morning saying we could be brace free! Yippee! She went to school today without her brace (I had to work). Coming home tonight, it was a bit odd to hold her. She seemed so ... floppy. Like a baby. I'm used to a baby that doesn't bend, doesn't mold, doesn't contour into me when snuggling. It was nice beyond words, but a little strange, to be honest.

I did put her into her brace for sleeping tonight. Even though we can be brace free for a couple days ... I still want to baby that healing left hip.