Dealing with Hip Dysplasia

I wanted to document the story of Mady's hip dysplasia. Hip dysplasia is basically when the hip joint does not fit correctly into the socket. This can cause probably with her legs and hinder crawling, walking, etc.

Mady was due on October 29th, and she made her grand arrival on November 2nd. However, she should have been born before her due date. You see she was breech, frank breech to be exact. BUT..we didn't find out until November 1st, when I thought my water broke and we headed to labor and delivery.

Yeah...I was not happy, and neither was the hubby. She had been breech...my.entire.pregnancy. and no.one.caught.on. My doctor only did an initial ultrasound to confirm the pregnancy and the typical 20 week ultrasound. Needless to say, I was not happy with my doctor and the care I receive during my pregnancy.

They sent us home the night of November 1st for a scheduled C-section the following afternoon. I had no idea that being breech could cause many different issues, and hip dysplasia being one of them.

The day after Mady was born, which is a whole different story, the pediatrician came in to check her out. I loved our pediatricians! When he was moving her legs around, he felt her hip "clunk" which to me didn't sound that bad. He wanted to check back in a little while and see if he heard it again. We said ok and went on about our day. He came back later in the day and said he still felt the clunk and wanted to check it out further. Then he read that she had been breech and he grew a little more concerned. We made an appointment with him for the following Monday.

To be honest, it did not truly cross my mind that anything could be wrong. I was enjoying our new daughter, and the magic that brings. I just thought it was something that we would have to keep an eye on....I was wrong.

Monday comes and we go to the pediatricians for her first check up! I was so excited and nervous all at the same time. When he went to examine her, he still her the "clunk" and gave her a script for a hip ultrasound which he wanted to have done that day. We scheduled it for the same afternoon.

Off to the ultrasound place we go. Now, only one parent can be back in the room during this time. Mind you, Mady is not even a week old yet. The ultrasound tech asked me to get her to be as still as possible. Yeah, ok lady. My poor baby screamed the whole time while I was leaning over the table trying to console her. (Mind you I just had a C-section...and OUCH!) The ultrasound confirmed she had hip dysplasia.

Honestly, I still wasn't worried. I guess there was too much going on for me to get upset. I didn't know what we were in for.

We made an appointment for a pediatric orthopedic surgeon the following day. He was amazing! Mady at this point is just a week old.

Matt could not come with me to the doctors because he had to go back to work. Thank heavens for my wonderful mom. She came with me and needless to say, we were in for a shocker. Dr. P, as I will call him, explained everything so wonderfully to us but I was in shock. I am so glad my mom was there for a second pair of ears because my mind was in so many different places.

Then he told us, she would need to wear a harness for 3 months. Oh ok. BUT the harness could not come off. EXCUSE ME! I lost it! Honestly, I was so completely overwhelmed. I am a new mom and now I have to take care of a baby with a harness, and not mess it up and adjust it as she grew. I was so nervous I was going to mess something up! I had to pay attention now though so I could show everything to Matt. That day was truly exhausting!

My poor love bug!

He showed us how to change her diaper with this on. Oh, and she was not allowed to really wear clothes, I mean how could she but she wasn't allowed. Only onesies and sleep bags. I could not put her in a cute outfit for 3 months. (I was really upset about this! I had received soooo many cute outfits for her!) Her first Thanksgiving and Christmas she was in one of those sleep bags! (I truly hate those things and none of my other children will wear them! =) )

She had the harness on full time until January 2011. Then she could have if off for a few hours each day for 2 weeks. Then we would go back to see if she was making process. (Which thankfully she always did). Then the following week, she could have it a off a few more hours a day, etc. We did this routine from January 5th to February 14th. This honestly was one of the most difficult parts because Mady always screamed when we had to put the harness back on. It was so difficult to watch her want to stretch her legs and she couldn't. Some days I would just cry with her. I felt so bad and there was nothing I could do. I wanted her to get better more than anything else because the alternative was surgery.

Mady girl!

Christmas 2010. I don't care. I put a dress on her this day! (at least for a little bit!)

This is the very first day she could have it off for a selected period of time!

Looks so uncomfortable.

UNTIL

February 14, 2011- The day the harness came off!!!!!

On our way to the doctors!

I swore I was going to through that thing away! I hated it. But, as gross as it is, I kept it. I want to show Mady one day, what she wore for the first 3 months of her life.

I am so thankful for the wonderful doctors who took special care of our daughter. She has to continue to see an orthopedic surgeon until she stops growing. Yeah...a long time! But, at our last appt, in September, everything looked great!

Just another Mady story!