11/16/11

Baby Mia was born with a dislocated hip. When the pediatrician checked her out in the operating room she discovered that Mia's hip easily slipped in and out of the joint. She passed this information on to the pediatrician Josh and I chose for Mia, Dr. Locher. When he came in the next day to check her out he decided that she would need to wear a harness to keep her hip in place. He ordered a consult with an orthopedic surgeon who came in later that day to check her out. He brought a harness with him and fitted her for it. To the left is a picture of the original harness. It has metal buckles and one of them is right on her back. The velcro on the leg part rubbed directly on her legs with no padding in between. We really hated it.

The next day the orthopedic surgeon came back to check on her and brought her a different harness. The new harness is mostly velcro and has plastic buckles and fewer of them and the legs have padding all the way around. The harness is meant to hold her legs in this frog position. Her hip slips out when she puts her knees together or when she straightens her legs.

The orthopedic surgeon set up an appointment for us in Marshfield for Mia to get an ultrasound of her hip so he'd know better what we were dealing with. The appointment was yesterday. What they found was exactly what the orthopedic surgeon and Dr. Locher expected, her hip is in place most of the time, but easily slips out which is much better than the alternative. If it is out most of the time and needs to be coaxed back into place she would need to have her legs casted instead of harnessed. So because of her condition the doctor who did the ultrasound thinks this harness is going to work just fine and fix her hip fairly quickly. The harness will hold Mia's hips in place until her ligaments get strong enough to do the job. We have an appointment with Dr. Locher tomorrow and an appointment with the orthopedic surgeon next week Wednesday.  After meeting with both of them we should have a plan as to how long Mia actually has to wear this harness. They originally said 6 to 8 weeks.

We are supposed to leave the harness on 24 hours a day and only take it off to bathe her, but we have figured out that it is so much easier to change her diaper if we take her legs out. When we do take her legs out she really likes to stretch them and kick them. She doesn't fuss when we have to put them back in though. I suppose to her it's just normal because she's had the harness since she was a day old. It really bothers us though, we can't wait to snuggle her when she's not all tied up.

It's funny how many people have said their child or a child close to them had to wear harnesses or had to be casted for the same or similar reasons. I guess it's pretty common and more common in girls than boys. It really makes me feel better to hear these stories and to hear that they turned out well. I'll give you an update as soon as we know more.

Thanks for reading!