4 weeks ago the thought of Rilynn being in a Pavlik harness for 12 weeks was the worst thing I could have imagined for her. I cried for hours when they put her in it. Today, if I were to get the same news, I'd cry again, only this time I'd cry tears of joy. I'd give anything to make that harness work and keep her in it, but yesterday we took her out and started to mentally prepare for our next option, a closed reduction and spica cast. I'm proud of myself for trying everything I could. I read several blogs and stories to get ideas. I kept her out of her car seat for 8 days before the final ultrasound. I kept her in 2 diapers to keep her from leaking and in hopes it would keep her hips apart. We held her the way were supposed to, changed her the way we were supposed to, but God has a different plan. I know that she will be healed eventually, but it is sad to watch her go through this and scary not knowing how long it will take and if their will be a complication that effects her for life. People keep telling me, it will go by fast, but who wants time with their baby to go by fast?
On the bright side, we are leaving for Palm Springs on Saturday for our first family vacation. We were expecting that she would still be in her harness which would mean no pool time. Although I wish that was the case, I am SO excited that she gets to wear her cute swim suits and get in the pool with us. We are going to enjoy every moment out of the spica with lots of cute clothes, kicking her legs, and outings. I know we will enjoy every moment of her in the spica too because how can you not enjoy that face, but it will be different.
We are so thankful for everyone's thoughts and prayers. From the moment we got the news of her hip dysplasia, I wanted to post to Facebook and instagram to get the support we need from our friends and loved ones. Every comment and "like" means so much to us.
So here's the new plan: In about 2 months she will have an x-ray to verify her hips are still out. There is a teeny tiny itsy bitsy probably won't happen (but we can always hope) chance that they go back in on their own. Then, we schedule the procedure. Rilynn will have a closed reduction in the operating room sometime between when she is 4 and 6 months old. Originally we were hoping for earlier, but there is a higher risk of complication that could lead to life long hip problems if we do it too soon. Rilynn will be put under, they will inject dye into her hips so they can see how things are going by x-rays, they will manually put her hips into place, put a spica cast on, and we will stay over night at the hospital while nurses teach us how to care for her in the cast. If they can get her hips in this way, she will have the cast for 12-18 weeks with cast changes in the operating room every 6 weeks. During the cast change they will check that everything is going as planned using x-rays. The cast goes from about her chest all the way down to her ankles and keeps her hips in position. If this works we are done with surgery and we just have to play catch up to get her muscle strength back; they say they are usually caught up in a year. If it doesn't work, we schedule an open reduction and another 6 weeks or so of casting when she's about 10 months old. But fingers crossed we only have 1 procedure and everything goes smoothly. It will be an adjustment, but we will get through it. I'm so lucky to have such a loving and supportive husband who will be so helpful in caring for Rilynn and keeping me calm during all of this.
For more information on hip dysplasia visit: http://hipdysplasia.org/developmental-dysplasia-of-the-hip/child-treatment-methods/closed-reduction/
