The Hippy Hippy Shake

Now that my parents are finally back from their fabulous Italian Holiday (sigh) and are in the loop i can finally share with the rest of the blogosphere what's really going on with our family these days.

apparently sabine's left thigh bone has taken off for outer space. and without a thigh bone in place the hip socket won't develop properly and without hip socket development it will really suck to walk and run (limping & pain) and she'd have to have a hip replacement pretty young and probably would have early arthritis. all not good things. (if you want to look it up, it's uni-lateral hip dysplasia)

so we're having that fixed up for her. in april we're taking her to the nice dr at UVA who we met with for our 2nd opinion. he'll give her anesthesia, slide the head of the femur into the hip socket and then put her in what's called a SPICA cast to hold it there. the cast will stay on at least 5 weeks, then be checked and probably changed to stay on maybe as long as 12 weeks. in that time her hip will do some major magic and grow beautifully around her thigh bone to keep it in place and to shape the perfect ball and socket that all of us really want for ease in walking, running, dancing, yoga...etc. at UVA it is an outpatient procedure (thank goodness)

of course, we weren't happy to get this news, especially with it being very poorly delivered by our 1st opinion dr. at the end of the week of my rant against the healthcare industry in general. but we knew it was a possibility, they've followed her since she was 2 months, and max remembers me telling him just after she was born that something was going on on that side. moms always know everything, especially movement therapist moms.

but after feeling our emotions for a few days, now we're just trying to gear up for what i'm calling her "cast trimester." which will mean a lot of care and worry with a frustrated infant who can't really understand what is happening. as one friend put it "that's a bummer" and really, it is and it will be hard on us and hard work for us. the SPICA cast will immobilize her from mid-chest to her ankles just when she'd be learning to sit, roll, crawl. and apparently diaper changes in these things become a real challenge (no more cloth diapers!) but even with the work we remind ourselves, she isn't in pain and it isn't life threatening so we'll support her and do this for her and in a few months it will be a distant memory. and i just keep thinking she was born to the right mom for this... i mean, working with the body is what i DO. she will be very well cared for.