The Diaper Splint

When we met with the Occupational Therapist we had so many questions.  The doctor didn't really explain much to us at all.  Thankfully the OT was really great and explained how the brace would work, what we should be doing and how to care for Mackenzie while she was in the brace.

We were expecting a hard plastic, or possibly plastic and metal brace for Mackenzie and were pleasantly surprised when we ended up with what they called a Diaper Splint.  They brought out a piece of stiff foam which they measured against Mackenzie and cut to fit her.  They then heated up the foam in a pizza oven and brought it back and moulded it right against her.  Velcro closures were added to keep it tight and allow us to take it on and off for diaper changes and baths.  They even added the cute ribbon detail to the velcro with pink polka dots to make it more girly!

You can see in the photo on the right we used a nursing pillow to support her when laying. We learned that we could place her chest over the pillow (this is not pictured) and the sides would hold her in place while she played with toys on the other side (this also prevented her from rolling of her stomach as much).

We bought a bean bag chair on the advice of others on the internet (we bought it at WalMart which had the cheapest bean bags we could find). While she didn't care for it, because she doesn't care to be immobile, it served us well from time to time when she would sit still.

Life in the brace was pretty good.  Mackenzie had just started sitting up really well before she got into it so it wasn't too big of an issue that she wasn't able to do that any more.  We thought we had it set to have a way to keep her on her tummy now (she wasn't a big fan and would always roll over as soon as we put her down on her stomach).  Well, she learned within a couple of days how to roll from her stomach to her back and it only took another week or so before she was rolling both directions.  She became quite mobile in the brace.  She would spin herself around in circles and push herself backwards with her hands.  She also started to do an army crawl pushing off her toes and pulling with her arms.

She didn't fit into the high chair we previously had and were able to find a new one that fit her.  We took her to Babies R Us and basically just tried to put her in every high chair they had to try to find one that worked.  We tried some booster seat type chairs first, but none of them worked.   FInally we found the Bright Stars InGenuity Perfect Place High Chair to fit her in.  It was one of the pricier ones, but thankfully it went on sale about a week or two after we bought it and they price protect.  

We also needed to buy a new car seat because she no longer fit in the bucket seat style.  Again, we went to Babies R Us and put her in a bunch of seats until we found one that worked.  The Evenflo Triumph 65 which had a wider base that she could fit in with the brace.  

She loved going for rides in the Stroller/Bike carrier that we got from Costco.ca and fit well it in without any adjustments needing to be made.

The last item that we bought for helping care for her in the brace was a carrier.  We went with the Infantio Support Ergonomic Carrier which is very similar to an Ergo.  She fit really well in it in her brace and it was also discreet as the brace couldn't be seen while she was in it.  

As far as clothing we were told she could wear regular clothing under the brace as long as it wasn't too "bulky".  We mostly stuck with tights style pants and used baby legs a lot with a onesie.  At night she would wear footed sleepers when it was colder or else just a onesie and a fleece sleep sack.   I also really liked putting her in dresses when we would go out because it would cover the brace and stop some of the stares and comments.  

We got some interesting comments from people while out and about with Mackenzie in her brace.  One lady asked if it was for attaching toys to so that she didn't drop/throw them around.  Another person asked, when we were out shopping and I was just carrying her, if it was to help make her more easy to hang onto.  Overall though people were really great about it and usually just asked what it was and carried on.  

The 8 weeks in the brace went by much more quickly that we could have even imagined and soon it was time to head back up to see the Doctor and find out how things were going.  I still noticed a click in her hip during diaper changes so we thought it was possible she may have to stay in the brace for a longer period of time, but weren't really sure what to expect.  We were trying not to be too optimistic.  

The Beginning of the Adventure

It all started at Mackenzie's 6 month check up on March 26th with our family doctor.  Everything was going great until we got to the end of the appointment when the doctor noticed a "click" in Mackenzie's left hip.  Her hips had been checked, as is routine, when she was born as well as at her 6 week and 3 month appointments and nothing out of the ordinary was noticed.  Our doctor wanted to send us for an x-ray to have it checked out to see what was going on.

We went first thing in the morning the very next day to the Diagnostic Imaging Centre as x-rays were done on a first come first serve basis.  Then we just had to wait a few days for the results to be sent to our doctor.  We got a phone call from our doctor a couple days later telling us that they did indeed notice an abnormality on the x-ray and they were sending us to a pediatric orthopedic surgeon in the city.  We had a choice of either Edmonton or Calgary since we live in between the two cities.  It didn't matter to us we just wanted to get in as quickly as we could.  We had an appointment for the Stollery Children's Hospital in Edmonton for April 10th, so fortunately did not have to wait too long to see someone.

While we waited we did a bunch of research online, as well as talked with a colleague of ours whose daughter also had hip dysplasia as a baby.  We had no idea what the issue really was or how severe it might be so we didn't know at all what to expect.   I had been regularly taking Mackenzie to see a chiropractor and she was able to access the x-rays and took some time to go over them with me and explain what they meant.  She said things were not good and Mackenzie's left hip did not have the ball of her femur that should sit in her hip socket developed.  Also that the angle of the left hip was not correct as you can see in the images below compared to the right.  She told us to be prepared for her to be put in a brace or even potentially a cast when we went to see the specialist.

When we saw the specialist in Edmonton they took another x-ray.  First a resident doctor came into the room and examined Mackenzie he said that he didn't seem to feel any problems and it didn't seem bad.  That there maybe was a little bit of a click and that the specialist would have a look at it.  

When the Doctor came in he said "That's not a normal hip, it's not dislocating, but it's not a normal hip".  That was about as much of an explanation we got from him.  He hummed and hawed a bit between whether she should have a Pavlik Harness or a brace and decided on the brace since she was on the old-ish side for the Pavlik.  We were sent to the Rehab clinic to see an Occupational Therapist and told she needed to wear the brace 24/7 except for diaper changes and baths for 8 weeks and then we would reassess.