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Looking to pass on our Spica Table

*****Passed on to another family******


t appears we are in the clear with our new little man and we would like to pass our Spica Chair/Table on to another DDH family that could use it.  We are located in Central Alberta but would ship it if you cover the shipping costs.

It is purple, was made for Mackenzie when she was 9-12 months old and has her name on the back.  It could quite easily be painted another color.  You can see pictures at this post here:  http://mackenzieshipadventures.blogspot.ca/2012/07/ivy-rose-spica-chair.html

Please let me know if you would like our chair.  Leave a comment with your email and I will get in touch.

Baby #2

I meant to write this post while I was still pregnant, but life got ahold of us and I never got around to it.

We had our second baby on April 18th.  A boy!  Lukas Ryan Unland

Our Orthopedic surgeon had recommended that for future children we make sure their hips are checked really well and do an ultrasound at 6 weeks for added reassurance.  

My labor was really fast so my doctor was not at the delivery.  I made sure to tell the doctor that delivered Lukas to check his hips really well due to the family history.  They also had a paediatrician come into talk to me because of some of the medication I am on and I asked her to check his hips again.  Then, the resident who was helping with my delivery was the one who discharged us and she knew how I had been asking so said "I'll just check his hips one more time for you".  At our one week check up my own doctor also checked his hips.  I think they probably all think I'm neurotic, but I want to be able to have early intervention this time to hopefully avoid spica casts and all that jazz if at all possible, if we end up with a hip dysplasia diagnosis.  

So far his hims seem "perfect" as our doctor put it.  

She was still willing to humour me with a requisition for an ultrasound at his six week appointment, so we go in for that next week and I will update after that.  

For now, we are happy for healthy hips and enjoying the new addition to our family.

Thanks to Wild at Heart Photography for the newborn photos

What Have We Been Up To Lately?

Nothing new to report on the status of Mackenzie's hips.  She is still doing great and we are no longer seeing our Orthopedic Surgeon.

I do have some concerns because she continues to sit in the "W" position as her preferred sitting position.    I used to always just say "feet in front" and she would comply.  Now I try to make it a fun game to get her to sit "criss cross applesauce" in a cross-legged position.

An example of her sitting in the "w" position

I asked on the DDH Facebook group and it seems to be quite common in "hip kids" as their trunks are not as strong so it provides a more stable base.   Here are a few links to articles regarding the "w-sitting".

http://www.learninglinks.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/LLIS-25_W-Sit.pdf

http://starfishtherapies.wordpress.com/2011/09/28/w-sitting-revisited/


Other than that she recently started Gymnastics and is loving it!

One Year Cast Free

I can't believe the one year anniversary of being cast free has passed and I totally forgot about it.  In fact, I had to look back through the blog to see what date it even came off.  Honestly, the cast and Hip Dysplasia in general have been the furthest things from our minds.  Mackenzie is walking and running and jumping and climbing and has totally caught up with other kids her age in terms of her gross motor skills.  I talked to our pediatrician and she told us that there is no way for the hip bones to "regress" back once they are proper position.  Every once in awhile this summer we would stop and say "remember last summer when she was in the cast", but it, and hip dysplasia, are now thankfully a distant memory.

New Runner brand glider bike

Another Great Resource

Check out this website: http://www.hopethehiphippo.com

Lots of information for you whether you are starting your DDH journey or in the middle of it already.

The book is great for older children to help explain to them what is happening and what will be happening to them along their journey if surgery and a spica cast is in their future.   I purchased a copy for Mackenzie to hopefully read with her when she gets older so she can understand why she is in that "crazy cast" in her baby pictures.

WE HAVE NORMAL HIPS!!!!

I figured that required shouting!

I can't believe it took me so long to get this on the blog.  More important things I suppose, like running, jumping and spending as much time outside as possible, took priority.

Playing with her favorite new toy - the water table!

We had an appointment with our surgeon on April 23rd (I am going to back-date this post for record keeping purposes).  I was a little bit nervous going in because we had always been told that we need to see continued improvement each time.  If her hips stop improving then we would be looking at an Osteotomy when she was 3 or 4, which is a surgery to cut and change the shape of the bone that makes up the hip joint.

As per usually Mackenzie freaked out when we went into the x-ray room.  They usually only allow one parent in but we asked if we could both go since we knew she would not be happy.  It took both of us holding her down to get the picture.  I hate that part so much.

Then, back to the waiting room until we get called in to see the doctor.

We got the absolute best news we could have gotten.  Her hips are in the normal range!  The doctor said as far as she is concerned her hips are both normal (the left was the one affected).  She should have no future issues except for a slight increased risk of early arthritis but that is a long ways down the road.  We also never have to go back!  Woohoo!

Needless to say we are over the moon.  From my readings and participation on the Facebook and Yahoo groups DDH forums it is not very common that a child would be done treatment after "just" a reduction, usually they go on to need surgery.

Of course now I have millions of questions like: can the hip regress, what do we do if we notice weird things like limping, etc.  But I guess we will cross those bridges when we get there.

 We are excited for a "normal" summer with splash parks, the beach, bouncy castles, cute summer clothes (I may have gone a bit overboard after our endless onesies last summer) and just enjoying life.

Thanks so much to everyone for all of your continued support.  I will try to "check in" on here every so often, but as with lately, I likely wont post very frequently.