Eight Months

It has been quite the month; lots of changes including losing the cast.  Our little lady seems more and more like a big girl every day, holding her own bottle and sippy cup, wanting to feed herself, sitting all on her own after just one day of being cast free.  The girl is amazing.  We’ve gotten into a great routine.  I could not be happier with my job as full time mom and wifey.  My life revolves around my 2 favorite people (and dog).  Although, it was weird to miss the first day of school since I’ve had a first day of school for the past 24 years.  Not decorating a classroom, having a first day of school outfit, and meeting all those sweet little faces at the classroom door was hard, but I got over it quickly.  I know the kids of room 4 are in good hands with their Ms. Mudge and with how quickly Rilynn is growing up, I wouldn’t trade being home with her for the world.  Every week, Rilynn and I go to the library for baby story time.  It is an amazing program with songs, stories, nursery rhymes, sign language, instruments, and socializing.  We also started swim lessons once a week at the gym and I hate to brag, but she’s a natural.  She scoops her arms, kicks her legs, and absolutely loves to play in the pool.  She loves the pool so much, she even likes to drink the water.  We’ve started more finger foods, although she prefers her processed and sugar filled Puffs, I’m determined to make her a healthy eater.  She no longer nurses at night, but still wakes up a few times at night.  I am putting Rilynn through my own rehab routine to help her develop and stretch her leg muscles.  She spends time in her jumparoo every day.  (Hip moms, I know how bad it is for her hips, but I don’t think they can get much worse, so why not).  When she isn’t in that, she’s on the floor, sitting and rolling.  She still won’t put much weight on her legs even when supported.  Even when she does, she puts all the weight on her left leg.  She’s rolling all over the place again, but still tends to favor her left (non-surgery) side.  The scar on her right hip is about 3 inches long and has healed wonderfully.  Separation anxiety is in FULL swing.  It can be really annoying and so flattering all at the same time.  But it isn’t just with mom, she doesn’t like when dad leaves the room either.  For 6 weeks we blamed how heavy Rilynn was on the cast.  Well... we went to the doctor post cast and she does weigh 21 pounds which puts her in the 89th percentile for weight.  She is also 29 inches and the 88th percentile for height.  Just more to love! :)  So excited for Halloween!! She already has 2 Halloween outfits and I’m making her costume!  Babies are too fun!

Firsts:
Swim lesson
Painting
Bike ride
Sitting in a high chair at a restaurant
Sitting in a shopping cart (shopping is a whole lot easier)
Full sit up.  She went from lying down to sitting up.  I tried it... it’s hard.

Favorites:
Toy: Music activity table and my little ponies because they have hair and she is obsessed with hair still
Food: Puffs, morning smoothies (I even sneak kale in it sometimes... she doesn’t seem to notice but I do), anything sweet.
Snuggling
Noise: babbling while we move her lips with our finger

Mango and blueberry breakfast is a favorite.

Pink sparkly shoes are a must.

Feeding herself.

Elmo activity table.

Thanks Aunt Sadie and Nick for making my booty cute and ruffled.

Animal print everything.

Swim lessons.

It’s just 2:30 AM and Rilynn decided doing sit ups for 3 hours straight was more important than sleeping.

On Saturdays we wear orange.

Typical mid Sunday football nap.

Adventuring in our neighborhood woods.  I love the fall leaves!!  So excited for Rilynn’s first fall.

Cutest kid ever!

Hanging out with big kid Riley.

Just some pictures hanging out at my friend Jessica’s house.  

Jessica is so talented! 

Reading her favorite book about Dory.

I’m 8 months old and cute as ever.

Hiking in the gorge.

Sitting only hours after her cast came off.  

I’m chunky and I know it!  I LOVE those roles and that belly!!

Beaver girls!

Pink tutu on her pink swim suit. 

Not her best photo (sorry Ri), but I’ve been making onesies for her!

Swinging at the park. 

It was raining that day.

So we played dress up.

Love that attitude.

Thank God I had a girl!

No Hips In... Again

We went in to Wednesday's operation excited to finally have both hips in place and officially start down the road to recovery.  After arriving at Doernbecher at 6 am, everything was going smooth and she went back into the OR right on time.  We were told the left hip was going in no matter what.  They were certain that the right hip would have made some progress.  After an hour we got a call from the OR nurse that they hadn't even started her 2 hour procedure, they were still working on positioning after the arthrogram.  We knew that wasn't a good sign.  10 minutes later, we were asked to wait in the consultation room... the room we've never been in but watched parents go into to privately discuss bad news.  Both surgeons came in to let us know that her right hip had made no progress.  It is too loose and the tendons just won't tighten back up around it.  We had the option to "roll the dice" and just keep pushing, but both of our surgeons recommended giving her a break.  They were afraid they could be causing more harm than good and putting her at high risk for AVN.  After 6 weeks of a Pavlik harness, 6 weeks and 1 day in a spica cast, and going under general anesthesia 4 times, we are back to where we started, with 2 hips out.  We were heart broken, again.  We couldn't have asked for 2 better doctors who were empathetic (one of them actually has been in our shoes with his own daughter), informative, and intelligent.  When she is 12 months, we will check in again and start coming up with plan E.  The next round will be when she is between 12 to 18 months old.  It is so frustrating to wait and know that we will be taking a mobile toddler and casting her again.  It is terrifying to know that there is no guarantee that things will work out the way we hope.  In the meantime, we are enjoying our cast free baby (and car bed free!).  We are so happy to hold our baby girl without a few inches of plaster in between us.  I've already been shopping and bought lots of fall clothes and leggings.  I signed her up for 6 weeks of swim lessons starting next Friday.  We've given her 3 baths in the last 2 days.  It's amazing how much more you enjoy the little things, when they've been taken away from you.  Rilynn isn't quite back to her old self yet, but she's a tough little cookie and I know she'll bounce back quickly.  She was in a lot of pain the first day and is still pretty sore and fussy.  She wants so badly to be active, but is cautious in making movements because her legs are still tender. 

Q & A 

What about crawling and walking?

We were pleasantly surprised that she can still learn to crawl and walk, just like any other kid.  If she does walk before the next round of procedures, she might have a little more sway to her booty.  

So why do we need to address the issue if she can still walk?  

Eventually, it will be very painful to walk with your hips out of socket.  As a child, she would end up with arthritis in her hips and would need full hip replacements before even reaching adulthood.   Babies and children heal faster and stronger than adults do. 

Have you considered getting a second opinion?

We’ve had 3 already.  Yes, we are looking into seeing if there is a doctor somewhere who specializes in DDH hip surgeries because this is not your typical case of DDH.  However, we feel pretty confident in our surgeons’ talent and knowledge and like that there is a team of them working together.

Are her legs skinny now that she’s out of the cast?

Ha ha ha!  Has Rilynn ever had skinny legs?  Nope! Those thighs are as chunky and yummy as ever and we love them to pieces!  

Where did we get her super cool purple chair?  

It’s for spica cast babies only!  Special ordered, custom made by a saint.  That chair saved our sanity and was worth every penny.

Thank you for all of the prayers, thoughts, unexpected cards, and messages.  Rilynn has a great team behind her and we are so appreciative of everyone's support.