My perfect baby has hip dysplasia...

The whole process for getting from diagnosis to surgery took about a month, it was a strange combination of feeling like it was taking forever and happening way too fast. Mabel was 9 months when we noticed that the rolls at the top of her legs looked asymmetrical. (September 9, 2009) With a closer inspection we noticed it looked as if her left leg was shorter than the right. After searching online we came up with Hip Dysplasia - we both knew it was it, she had all the risk factors: first born girl, breech birth, family history.

The next day I called the doctors office and got an appointment for that afternoon. Our doctor was unavailable so Mabel saw another pediatrician in the practice. He checked her hips for "clicking" and didn't feel the joint slip. He said that he couldn't feel anything but agreed it was suspicious that her legs looked different and ordered an x-ray.

The following week we went to the hospital for the x-ray. We were sure that she had hip dysplasia, we just needed to know for sure. I thought I was prepared but when the doctor called after reviewing the x-ray confirming that her left hip was dislocated I just lost it and couldn't stop crying.

So began the waiting. A referral was generated for a pediatric orthopedic, the original appointment was made for about 3 weeks from the x-ray! My baby had a dislocated hip and they were making us wait! I called the orthopedic myself and begged them for an earlier appointment and they fit us in for the following week. It as just as I expected from what I had read - the ortho recommend an closed reduction surgery followed by 12 weeks in a spica cast followed by a brace, he said the sooner the better for surgery. Then began the wait for the surgery date. I called about every day to see if there was news of a date, the waiting we making us sick! Finally over a month after we noticed her leg asymmetry we had a date for surgery.

The emotions we went through ranged from anger that the doctors missed this to grief over the loss of the little things that she just gained like crawling, to relief that at least this is a condition that can be corrected. We had lots of tears and sleepless nights just thinking about what was coming.

There is so much to be thankful for - although it was missed we caught it before she started walking, still "early" in the game. It is a treatable condition, the treatment is very successful on the whole. But we did have the right to feel the anger and grief. I really did grieve the loss of my Mabel's new found mobility. The closeness I was afraid of loosing when we cuddle and nurse - having a cast between us just broke my heart. I had a right to be angry that this wasn't found sooner, but the reality is that even if it was found at birth and she was put in an harness that wouldn't necessary mean she wouldn't have need surgery anyway.

Would Mabel still be Mabel? I knew that she would still be my little girl - perfect to me in every way, but would she be happy? She loved her "tubby time". Bath was the highlight of her night time routine, how would she deal with that being taken away. She loved to "dance" on the floor, kicking her legs, rolling and laughing, how would she feel being bound in a cast immobile? Would she hate us for doing this to her? Would she be sad? Angry?



Nothing is more scary than the unknown...