It Can Be Done! (Three Weeks)

     It's hard to believe today marks three weeks. It seems like such a long amount of time but it's still just the start of Froggie's time in the harness.
     I don't have much to write but I thought I'd post some pictures of our Froggie Princess.

Froggie playing the piano

      Proof it can be done... You CAN put a onesie type top over the harness. This one was a size up from the size she's in so that it didn't pull on the straps connecting the part from around her chest to her ankles.

Free Froggie Legs

     In all of my research about hip dysplasia I have noticed that every case is different. Some parents are told to put the harness directly on their child's skin and never remove it until given the ok. Others, like Froggie, are permitted to have out of harness time from the very start.
     Some days Froggie has free legs longer than others and her out of harness time ranges from a few minutes to an hour or longer. She was originally ordered to be in the harness for bed time and nap time but trying to get it on and off around an infant's ever-changing schedule just wasn't worth the hassle so Froggie stays in the harness most of the day.
     While the harness is off we do bath time and tummy time. She eats and stretches her legs. She feels so different without the harness on. Smaller but not lighter. She doesn't seem to "go crazy" like some parent's describe but she seems to enjoy it.
     I feel like having her legs free is important regardless of how long it lasts each day.

**Sorry, no pictures today. I got a new phone and haven't figured out how to move them yet**

Tummy Time in the harness

     While we were at our appointment yesterday the staff seemed overly concerned about Froggie getting tummy time. Tummy time is pushed for all kids but apparently because she has a harness it's extra important. From what I gathered from their questioning it has something to do with an increased risk of flat head syndrome for kids in harness'. It's a good thing that Froggie loves to be on her belly!
     At least she did before the harness. She would lay on the floor and stare at herself in the mirror I normally propped near her and sometimes she would even fall asleep. Now that she has the harness tummy time is a different experience. When she has her harness off she still just lays on her belly; however, if she has her harness on she doesn't seem to be able to get comfortable and ends up laying, with her face on the floor, in defeat.

     This is where her pillow comes in handy. In the first days after getting the harness we went out looking for a pillow that was pretty squishy to help Froggie be comfortable. I bought 2 of them thinking we'd leave one at home and take one to "school" and they work great but they aren't used for their original purpose. Instead of propping up Froggie's dangling feet they prop her up for tummy time!
     I really recommend a pillow or rolled up towel or something. Froggie still gets some tummy time out of her harness or at least with her feet free.

Froggie's First Check up.

   

     Today we woke up EXTRA early, got ourselves dressed and packed up and hit the road.
     In reality it wasn't that much earlier than I typically get up but the difference of an hour with a toddler is torture. We made it for our 7:30am appointment with minimal complaint thanks to a lightning McQueen shirt and a "cereal nola bar".
     This appointment took forever! Big Brother played with the train table while we waited.

     A little while after we got checked in they took us back; Froggie weighed in at 12 lbs 7 oz a full pound heavier than our last appointment. She has grown so much in the last three and a half months, I had forgotten how quickly they go from tiny infant to big kid. We went through what has become our routine but this time made our way to the second exam room. This one had a cool fish light.

     So these were the questions I had come up with for our doctor:

     1. How long will she need to wear the harness/How long does it take for the ligaments/sockets to become stable enough to hold the ball of her hip on their own? This will take a long time. Our doctor said he wont even evaluate the harness' effectiveness (with an X-ray) until Froggie has worn it for 3 months. That means we have awhile left to wait until we know if this will do the trick or if we'll need to do something else for Froggie. 

     2.  What happens if the harness doesn't correct the problem? He didn't specifically answer this question but he said he was glad we had chosen to treat the issue now because if we would have taken a "wait and see" approach we may have had to take more invasive action to fix any issues that were unresolved. 

     3. Can I continue using chest carriers with her? He said yes! As long as the carrier I was using kept her legs out the way the harness positions them. He also said that if she's in the carrier and it positions her hips appropriately she could even be in it without her harness. Though I don't know if I'd take her out of the harness just to put her in the carrier and then put it back on when we're done. 

     Like I said this appointment took forever. We arrived for our appointment at 7:20am and left at 9am and this was just for a clinical exam! We left today with my few questions answered and the harness tightened a little bit. He chose to tighten it saying that sometimes once they fit the harness it "settles" and needs to be tightened so that the legs are once again held in the right position. We go back in a month for another clinical exam to check the harness' fit.

Froggie waiting for the doctor.

Froggie and Big Brother waiting for the doctor.

Happy Mother's Day!

     From my family to yours, Happy Mother's Day! Above is one of many crafts my kids have done. Froggie even ditched her harness temporarily to add her contribution. We haven't really deviated from our normal schedule today. I got to go grocery shopping sans kids thanks to my mom and picked up some scratch off lottery tickets and a Frappe on my way home.

My Mother's Day gift to myself.

                

     You may be wondering where my hubby has been and why I'm not being pampered and kids free because of him. He's away doing his 2 weeks for the Navy reserves so we've been talking a lot via Skype. This is what our calls tend to look like:

Big Brother showing daddy his tush after being asked to sit on it. 

Big Brother showing Daddy his cars.

     The kids also made me beautiful flower pots at school this past week. I was waiting until today to show them off though.

Big brother's flower pot.

Froggie's flower pot.

     Now for something harness related since that's the primary reason this blog was started. Tomorrow morning, bright and early, we have to return to Shriner's Hospital for Children for our first check up since receiving the harness. That means today Froggie got some extra out of harness time so that I could go over all of the nylon with a tide pen and use my tiniest pair of scissors to cut all the little fuzzy things off of the fleece padding. I'm sure they know what a worn harness looks like but there's no reason she shouldn't have the cleanest looking harness possible. Clothes are laid out and lunches will be packed so that we can just get up and walk out the door tomorrow, this will only be the second time Big Brother has come to an appointment and it will be the first time he'll be coming without my husband to keep an eye on him while I listen to what the doctor has to say. Luckily Shriner's is an amazing place that caters to children; last time Big Brother came the carted in a bunch of trains for him to play with while his little sister got checked out. 

     Tomorrow I'll post my questions for the doctor as well as his answers and an update on Froggie and her harness.

Saturday Craftiness

     I didn't finish all of my intended craftiness for the day due to a variety of reasons; limited nap time, needing to feed myself, visiting family from out of town, etc. I did get some done though and I love what came out of today's "me" time.
     I'll be checking some more things off my to do list tomorrow but there never seems to be enough hours in the day to get everything done that I'd like to. Here are some pictures of what that pile of stuff in the last post has begun to turn into:

Pillowcase dress with lace

Camo (blue) and pink pillowcase dress

Short and long baby legs

     There is one more dress and two more  pair of baby legs coming as well as a new (bigger) pair of crochet baby legs once I get to that.

     We went out to dinner tonight and Froggie got sucked in to the Pittsburgh Penguins game. She loved the game and started to fuss when it was time to go. My big boy got a sucker out of a crane machine and though we normally don't let him have them but I figured it was time to let him try. He loved it but anyone close to him came away sticky.

Froggie watching hockey.

Big bother enjoying his sucker.

Missing the sun

     It's Saturday, the weather has taken a turn for the wet and cold rather than warm and sunny so we're inside today. The kids are BOTH napping (I'm not sure how I got this lucky two weeks in a row) and I'm catching up on my own work.
     Froggie is 14 weeks old (as of yesterday) and we have been doing weekly "photo shoots" to document her growth. I had intended to stop taking weekly photos and start taking them monthly at some point but I'll continue with the weekly photos for now. Especially to document her time in the harness.
     Here are some pictures from our photo shoot earlier in the week and last nights 14 week shoot:

14 weeks old!

14 weeks old - trying to pull herself forward.

14 week old Froggie.

midweek mini photo shoot

How Froggie felt about her photo shoot.

Froggie talking to me.

Tiny bit of "tude" from Froggie.

     Well Froggie is up now and needs some attention. If I get some more kid-free moments I'll be turning this pile of goodies into some fun stuff.

Stay tuned to see what all this will become!