Week 1 Complete

Week 1 under our belt

Kate's first week in the Pavlik Harness was officially complete yesterday!  Brian, Kate, and I had to leave Ocala a little before 11 to get to Florida Hospital in Orlando in time for her to nurse, check into the outpatient area of the hospital, complete a long ultrasound, and see her doctor!  Needless to say, we got back to around Ocala around 6:00 p.m. yesterday.  Her appointments make for long days, but we are blessed that Brian is self-employed and that I'm a stay-at-home mom.  Can you imagine if we both had your typical "nine to five" jobs during all of this?!  Yikes.  I'm sure we'd make it work, but it wouldn't be easy!

Kate's ultrasound

Kate's ultrasound had to be done with and without her harness on.  When the ultrasound tech took her first leg out of the harness, it was so cute!  At first Kate didn't realize she didn't have to hold it in the same position anymore.  However, once she figured out she could stretch, it was all she wanted to do!  This mama couldn't help but smile and laugh at how much she was enjoying that. :)

In case you're wondering, "Toy Story" was on in the ultrasound room.  The sound and bright colors held her attention.  I was actually pretty thankful for that because it kept her fairly happy during the ultrasound.  She didn't move her left leg (the affected hip) as much as she did the right when it was out of the harness, and she did get extremely upset when they did the ultrasound on the left hip.  The doctor assures us this condition is painless, so we're not sure why that is.  But the tech gave her a vanilla scented/flavored pacifier (who knew there was such a thing?!) to suck on with a little sugar water, and we got through it.  I wanted to keep that pacifier because she seemed to like it so much until I realized it broke out her face where it touched with little baby acne bumps.  Weird.  I was thinking that might be nice to have at home.... ;)

Going over the results

When it was finally time to see Dr. Wu, we got really good news!  First of all, the ultrasound confirmed that Kate's right hip is completely normal.  He was pretty sure that it was, but he wanted to double check.  Second of all, Kate's hip is no longer naturally dislocated!  Her hip is in socket.  The harness seems to be working...praise the Lord!

Dr. Wu says now it's a matter of all her ligaments "tightening up."  The only way for that to happen (besides surgery) is just time.  The length of time the harness is usually worn is 6 weeks plus a week for every week of life.  So, Kate was 11 weeks old when she got it on...which means a total of 17 weeks.  Kate has 16 more weeks in her harness.  Let the countdown begin!  I figured out that 16 weeks from yesterday is Christmas Day.  Man, that would be a good Christmas present for Kate to be done with her harness!

Looking forward

We go back for another ultrasound and doctor's visit next Thursday, September 12.  Dr. Wu didn't make any promises, but he did say that if he saw the same progress by next week, we MAY be able to discuss taking her out of her harness for a bath every once in a while.  This would make us so happy and would really soften the blow of this harness!

Brian and I give all the glory to God for the good news we received at the doctor yesterday.  And we just want to thank you all for your continued prayers and support.  It feels good to know we're not on this journey alone, and we are very optimistic her ligaments will tighten with time and that Kate can avoid surgery!