Doctor’s Diagnosis…

Well, another interesting development at our last appointment down at Children’s. We went to get follow up x-rays of Kapri’s leg, to make sure everything is growing okay (which fortunately it is)…but they found out that she has Hip Dysplasia. James & I were shocked to find this out, and of course were upset …but knew we had to do whatever it took to correct the problem. 

So basically the socket for the hip "ball" isn't formed/curved correctly... So over time, (with walking & standing) it'll eventually wear down and really mess up her hips...but luckily they found it early on in her life so she won’t even remember it. I guess this is pretty common (1 in 1,000 births), and is more so with firstborns & girls. I’ve read that the causes are still not known for sure – but they think that heredity, swaddling (crazy!), born breach, or with foot deformities…may contribute. Typically a baby’s pediatrician will discover this by moving around their legs, inspecting their hips & listening for clicking or clunking noises…but in Kapri’s case it wasn’t found until the x-ray because she has a milder case of dysplasia….phew!

So she has to wear this horribly uncomfortable looking thing that makes her look like a little froggy…called a "Pavlik Harness" for 18-22hrs a day, for 3-6 months (worst case up to a year, ahhhhh)!!!! 

It’s been around & in use for about 50 years & has a 90% effectiveness rate. Anyway, they had to put it on during the appointment and she made it pretty clear that she absolutely hated it. Hearing her screams & watching the tears run down her chubby little face totally made me cry, all while the assistant was trying to show us how to put it on correctly & take it apart…such a nightmare…but we’re all adapting pretty quickly to it, one day at a time.

Keep your fingers crossed that her hips get better soon so she doesn't have to wear it for long.

:'-(