one in, one out

A couple weeks ago I took Annabelle back to the Orthopedic Dr.  She had an x-ray (she's old enough now - no more ultrasounds!), and we got some reassuring news.  Her left hip is still in place, and looks good - Dr Olney is confident it will continue to stay in place, so she is now allowed 6-8 hrs a day out of her brace, and has no restrictions when out of her brace (except no Johnny Jump-ups).  I promptly put our Jumperoo together that night.  She's still more a fan of the Exersaucer than the Jumperoo, and I feel better about the Exersaucer because she can still wear the brace in it.  I still kinda baby that hip.

Her right hip is still dislocated, which we know and expect.  She'll have her open reduction in October that should fix it.

In the meantime, we're working on weaning her out of her brace, slowly.  She is also now doing physical therapy for her torticollis.  She's still pretty limited on her range of motion, and she detests the stretches we have to do for her.  I'm praying it gets easier as her muscles stretch out.  We have several sets of stretches we have to do 5-6x a day, for at least 5 reps.  So, all-in-all, each stretch 25-30 times a day.  It's a lot, but not that time consuming.  It's just painful to watch her screaming, but to know it's what she needs.  I hate seeing my baby uncomfortable.

Otherwise, all is well!

our new normal and the answers to some FAQ

I haven't posted for awhile, but there's not much to update!

The last five weeks have been great.  Annabelle is doing fantastic, and we don't really seem to mind her brace at all.  SHE doesn't seem to mind her brace at all.  It's our new normal.  Baby in a brace.  We get some stares occasionally, and I'm always happy to answer questions for the curious minds.

happy girl

We've even managed to fit her in an exersaucer with her brace on, and she loves being in it.  (I doublechecked with the Dr to make sure it was okay, and they said sure!)  She's all about putting everything in her mouth, so having lots of toys at arm's reach is a plus for her :)

dangly legs!

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FAQ:

I've had a lot of questions asking after little Annabelle, so I figured I'd make a mass answer:

our tiny girl on the fourth of July

She is doing great.  We are weaning out of her brace, she is allowed out four hours a day, and she loves being out of it.  She is still a bit behind on tummy time stuff, as she still doesn't tolerate it well, but we're catching up!  :)

She *did* go in for her surgery, but while under the general anesthesia, they were unable to put her hip in place.  She will have open surgery in October after she is 6 months old (the Dr won't do the open surgery on younger babies) and they will clean out the hip joint, manually reduce her hip, and cast it there for six weeks.  That *should* be her last surgery.

In the meantime, she is in her brace to keep her left hip stabilized, and provided it stays in place, she will only have surgery on her right hip, however, the nature of the spica cast is to cast both hips.