our story

We welcomed our second daughter Annabelle on February 18, 2012, a week before her due date. That same day, the pediatrician felt a click in her right hip ...

... it was never felt again. An x-ray the same day showed nothing, so we weren't too concerned. We had a follow-up ultrasound when she was 6 weeks old, and it showed that *BOTH* of her hips are dislocated. (a condition called Develomental Dysplasia of the Hip or DDH)

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

One year.

I'm pretty big on remembering dates - so I was floored as I happened to be reading my first posts on this blog earlier and noted that a year ago today, Annabelle got her Pavlik Harness.  I had felt some kind of premonition that our journey with Hip Dysplasia would not be brief, and that I would need an outlet - somewhere to share my thoughts and feelings, as well as Annabelle's progress.

What a year.
February 18, 2012 (birth day) : click felt in right hip on exam, xray unremarkable
February 22, 2012 : four day checkup, no click felt, Pediatrician recommends followup ultrasound at 6wks (the "gold standard" for followup)
March 21, 2012 : one month checkup, no click felt.
April 2, 2012 (6wks, 2 days old) : bilateral hip dysplasia diagnosis via ultrasound
April 9, 2012 (7wks, 2 days old) : Pavlik Harness treatment started
4 weeks in Pavlik Harness - no success.
4 weeks in Rhino Cruiser - left hip successfully reduced, right hip still dislocated
June 4, 2012 (15wks, 2 days old) : attempted closed reduction - no success, back to Rhino cruiser
July 17, 2012 : right hip still dislocated, left hip still in place
September 19, 2012 : right hip still dislocated, left hip still in place, surgery scheduled
October 9, 2012 : Open Reduction and Capsulorrhaphy of the right hip, spica cast
November 21, 2012 : Spica cast off after six weeks, both hips in place, able to be out of Rhino cruiser 3-4hrs a day
November 26, 2012 : James and I were concerned about Annabelle's range of motion -  hip still fine.
January 16, 2013 : Both hips still in place, able to be out of Rhino cruiser 6-8hrs a day.
March 20, 2013 : Both hips still in place, able to be out of Rhino during all waking hours.

And I am overjoyed to report today that Annabelle, as of today, is properly crawling - with her knees!  She's still pretty slow - she moves faster when she's army crawling, but this girl won't stop!  She's been successfully sitting up for two weeks, pulling herself up since January, and cruising furniture for at least a month (bad mom, I don't have the dates memorized - I will have to check back on my Facebook statuses.  Stati?)  Last week she took off walking with a walker.  I was floored. 



Now I'm just looking forward to seeing my tiny girl walk, and to hear the words I've been longing to hear for so long:  Healthy Hips.  We're so close.