It's a miracle!

WOW!  Thank you so much for your prayers and kind words to us after we found out that Tatem has hip dysplaysia and will need to wear a FULL BODY CAST for 3 months!

We still had lots of questions for her pediatric orthopedic surgeon, but we were waiting for our pre-op appointment.  Guess what?

Before they scheduled our pre-op, we got a phone call from Dr. Vara himself!  He said he just kept thinking about Tatem's case.  Her case was so unusual.  That explains why I had such a hard time finding info on 6 month olds getting diagnosed with hip dysplaysia!  He asked us if we would go to the children's hospital and get an ultrasound done on Tatem.  He had to get special clearance to be able to do this, because it's just not done.  We did the ultrasound on Wednesday.  The woman doing the ultrasound let us know several times that this is just not done.  It's harder to do because the ultrasound doesn't go through bone well.  (Younger babies are mostly cartilage in their hips.)

There are 3 main treatments for hip dysplasia.
1.  Pavlik Harness- This is usually for newborns and is completely non-invasive.
2.  Hip Abduction Brace (hard, plastic brace)- This is used if the harness doesn't work.  It's also removable and non-invasive.
3.  Spica Cast (full body cast)- This cast requires anesthesia 2 times and either an injection of dye into the hips or surgery to go in and fix the joint.

Tatem's doctor called today and was SO happy to tell us that as unorthodox as it is, he is going to put Tatem in a Pavlik Harness!

 

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That means this...

 

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instead of this!

That means 6-8 weeks in a harness...

instead of 12 weeks in full body cast!

That means a "fitting"...

instead of going under anesthesia for 1.5 hours two times!

That means my baby can SWIM this spring/summer...

not melt in our typical 100+ degree weather!

That means relatively normal diaper changes...

instead of THIS!  

(Yes, it does say "just dab a bit of perfume on the cast"!)

Oh, thank you, God for this new report!  

I love how God works.  If the doctor would have originally told us that she had to have a harness (we were hoping to find that no treatment at all was needed), you betcha you all would have gotten an earful about how we might have to sponge bathe her around the harness, how I would have another weekly appointment to go to to get it adjusted, how...well, the list could go on and on.  But NOW, because of God's perfect plan and timing, I am grinning ear to ear at the prospect of a Pavlik Harness.  Can't wait!!!