"Bracing for Dysplasia that Remains after Initial Treatment"

     This was the title of a blurb posted on the International Hip Dysplasia Institute website on July 29th. Just 10 days ago they identified my only remaining worry regarding Froggie's hips.
     The blurb briefly discusses a paper that explored children who were treated with a Pavlik Harness having continued mild dysplasia. They noted that in these cases doctors typically recommend observation or part-time bracing (Froggie's option). The doctors studied 70 children, a portion of them wore a brace while the others did not. The plus side is that the group with braces had better hips post treatment than those who underwent no treatment.
     The scariest part of this blurb was the comment. It noted that as many as 1/3 of treated kids continue to have issues!

Hip Hop 5k Revisited

     The countdown to the FIRST EVER Hip Hop 5k is winding down. It is in Easton, MA on August 24th (that's just 18 days away!) and proceeds go to the International Hip Dysplasia Institute and Boston Children's Hospital.
     If you're too far away to participate please consider donating or assisting in spreading the Hip Hop 5K around the nation! I'm working on bringing one to our home town because I believe that no child (or adult) should have to endure surgery for a condition that can be screened for at birth and treated with non-invasive measures.
     If you would like more information about heading up a 5K, would like to talk with me about working together on heading one up in my home town please feel free to contact me.

Another Rainy Monday

Monday is a lot more difficult when you wake up to cooler weather and gray skies. As the day has progressed it has gotten darker and begun to rain. I'm VERY sick of rain! We've been having (almost) daily downpours for the past few days and the cloudy skies have made everyone sleepy - especially Froggie!

     Well, June is over and July is here. Froggie is officially 5 months old today! She's getting so big and doing so much! 

          She can now roll from front to back AND back to front. 

          She has 2 teeth! 

          She talks up a storm!

          She loves to stick out her tongue. 

          She holds on to everything

          AND she's starting to get mad when people eat around her (and tries to steal their food)

Check Up

     Yesterday was Froggie's 4 month check up (a little late because it had to be rescheduled once). After a little bit of waiting (at 4pm you're bound to experience the accumulated delays of the day) we made our way back to an exam room and answered a few questions for the nurse. Typical things like what's she eating (breastfed or formula), is she meeting milestones (cooing, holding her head up, etc.) and measuring her.
     Froggie weighed in at 12.13lbs and was de-harnessed to get her length at 25.25". I've noticed that since she was fitted with her harness her growth has slowed down a bit. She went from gaining approximately half a pound per week to just a few ounces. I had read that this was common though there was no real explanation as to why it happens. While waiting for the doctor we experienced a handful of 2 year old melt downs from Big Brother; one regarding changing a pull-up, one about Froggie pulling his hair and another after rolling himself off the chair and onto the floor (He's ok, but realized very quickly that falling on to tile isn't fun).
     Her doctor was impressed that she's rolling (out of the harness) since she spends so much time in her harness. She actually rolled from back to front this afternoon in the office - go figure she waits until we're in the office to do things... He did also note that by time she's back for her 6 month check up (at almost 7 months) that she'll probably be ready to begin some other solid foods like cereal or fruits and veggies.
     In addition to getting her work up from the doctor she had some vaccines. She's never fond of them and it didn't help that today while I was trying to calm her down Big Brother was spitting milk all around the exam room. Gotta love 2 year olds! Over all this afternoon was pretty stressful simply because Big Brother became upset about EVERYTHING. It didn't help that He decided to wander away from me in the parking lot while I was unlocking the car either.
     I have yet to master doctor's appointments with both kids and it's a little overwhelming to try to talk to the doctor about one child while worrying about what the other one is doing. If anyone has any advice I'd be willing to hear it - Big Brother has tried toys, books, snacks, the works and by time we actually see the doctor he's burned through all of his distractions.

Mmmm... tasty froggy

I see you... 

Concerns

     Well Froggie's right leg is cause for concern once again. I had mentioned at our last clinical check that I had heard/felt a popping but was unsure whether it was her hip or her knee. After Froggie's doctor moved her all around and attempted to aggravate the joint to make the noise he decided that it was most likely her knee. 

     Froggie has been VERY interested in her feet and has been holding on to them and pulling them up towards her mouth and also pulling them out to the side similar to how the harness holds them. However, today while at work, Froggie had her harness off since she was the only baby awake. While she was out of her harness this afternoon she began playing with her feet, which is not abnormal, but she started twisting her leg oddly. It does not appear to be comfortable to me but she doesn't seem to care at all. She's able to do it with her harness on as well, though not to the extent that she does when it's off. 

     Some of Froggie's habits are making me wonder if she's going to need further treatment...

Knowledge IS Power

     There are some things that are just too important to forget to do. In our family reading is one of those things! We try to read at least one book on a nightly basis. Big Brother has read "Brown Bear, Brown Bear" so many times that he can now "read" it to us!

     Normally Hubby reads Big Brother his book(s) while I feed Froggie. Tonight Froggie wasn't ready to eat yet and so she joined Big Brother in his comfy bed to listen to their daddy read to them. 

     I have big plans to hit up our local library's summer reading program for kids and to try to head to story times (though they all seem to be at 10am while I'm at work and the kids are at day care). The kids are both signed up to receive free age appropriate books every month through a program started in our county through the United way. 

     In terms of Hip Dysplasia there aren't many books about the subject, especially for kids. I have not read it yet but I did come across Hope. Hope is a hippo and her story is one about hip dysplasia targeted at a young audience. The book has only 5 star reviews on Amazon.com ! I plan on ordering it soon and will write more once it arrives.

Diapering and the Harness (Cloth)

     WAY back when I started the blog I had mentioned doing an entry about diapering. When looking through the blogs "stats" I noticed that I recently got two pageviews from people searching Pavlik Harness and diapering - I guess that's as much of a sign as any to do this entry.
     Much like feeding and playing with Froggie changing her diaper around the harness has become routine. It happens numerous times a day and given the fact that I work in a day care I'm a pro at changing diapers, I just needed to change my approach a little.
     When Big Brother was an infant I made the push for cloth diapers. I had a whole list of reasons why I wanted to use them. I had little support from Hubby at that time to follow through, so we eventually abandon using them and packed them up in a box. When Froggie was about a week old we went to her first appointment with our family doctor knowing that our first appointment at Shriners Hospital was a week away. At this appointment our family doctor noted that he was glad we had an appointment and said that we may be advised to "double diaper" Froggie in order to hold her hips more openly. (Of course that was not the case but it was nice to have some idea of what to expect.)
     Shortly after coming home from that appointment we dragged out the box of cloth diaper covers and inserts and started using them because they were thicker than the disposable diapers. And I started ordering pocket diapers and wet bags to support our continued use of cloth diapers!
     Depending on which type of cloth diaper you use getting them on and off is much like using a disposable diaper. All in One and Pocket diapers seem to be the most like disposables but this entry is about inserts/covers. We use Flip covers and Econobum prefolds when we aren't using pocket diapers or All in One diapers.

Here's how we change Froggie's Diapers
Step 1. Start with a cute little baby that needs a new diaper. Have on hand an insert and whatever you use as wipes (we just use water in a spray bottle and wash cloths).

Step 2. Take off the dirty diaper and clean baby's bottom.

Step 3. Put on the new diaper. Make sure you aren't pulling their ankles together to get the diaper off and on. I typically place my hand under the small of Froggie's back and lift up her entire bottom half. Then weave the top tab of the diaper underneath the top strap of the harness.

Step 4. Weave the tabs under the bottom and top strap of the harness. ** If you fasten the diaper OVER the straps of the harness the harness can absorb urine and cause rashes on the baby's skin.**

Step 5. Enjoy your baby in their clean diaper!

Bad Habits?

     The older Froggie gets the more dexterity I notice. Of course this is normal since as a baby grows they learn new skills and master control of their extremities. In Froggie's case I'm excited as my daughter meets milestones but some of them make me nervous that at our next check up for her hips we will hear that the harness has not done it's job.
     After her clinical check I had written that Froggie's doctor noted that once a child can roll over the harness no longer "works". I posted on a hip dysplasia support page and got a lot of responses saying that didn't make any sense and that their children had progressed just fine while wearing a harness and learning to roll over.
     I couldn't drop it there, and I hope no other parent will take what I say or what they are told by others in forums as the only answer. It's best to collect your information from every source available to you and then come up with your own opinion/solution with all the facts you can collect.
     So I did my research.  
     It turns out that he was right. Once a child is able to roll over the harness MAY not be effective because they may be too strong to allow the harness to pull their legs to the proper position. This also applies to pulling and holding legs out of the "froggied" position for prolonged periods.
     Now, like I said, I'm torn regarding some of Froggie's new abilities. She frequently plays with her feet and stretches them upwards to grab at her toes.When she's out of her harness she holds her toes and pulls her legs WAY out to the sides. She definitely does not have any problems with mobility of her joints but we'll have to wait and see if her dexterity means that everything is A-OK or that it's no longer effective.

Froggie's new moves

Heat Wave

     Today was our annual family picnic and boy was it hot! I have written before about the heat and heat rash occurring with the harness but today we attempted to prevent it. Prior to leaving we coated Froggie in baby powder and chose to put a jumper on her that fit over her harness instead of our typical onesie under the harness and shirt or dress over it.
     This seemed to work, not to mention it felt significantly cooler than it was since we were near the lake and had a nice shady area with a constant breeze off the lake. It was nice to see family and we got to spend the afternoon outside.

Froggie and her Gi-Gi (Great Grandma)

Big Brother and his goldfish

Hubby and Froggie

Mmmmm fingers.... Froggie working on those teeth!

     After some socialization and lunch Big Brother asked to go to the beach. So we got him changed, put Froggie in the Ergo and headed down the "cliff".

Down the cliff

     Once we got to the bottom of the stairs Hubby still had to climb down the cement wall and take each child as I handed them off to him. Once we were on the beach it felt much warmer! The water was cool  but Big Brother wasn't thrilled with the little waves coming in and only took a few steps into the water before deciding to play in the sand instead.

cooling off

Froggie and I cooling off

Playing in the sand

     The kids had such a great day! By time we came back up from the beach they were both exhausted and passed out on a picnic blanket!

Sleepy kids!

     When we finally got home we took Froggie's romper off and let her hang out in a bib and her harness. She was a little red but it wasn't not quite what we had seen previously. Hubby's taken her to soak in a cool bath for a few minutes before bed which seems to cool her off and help her sleep.

Babysitting and the Harness

     It's not often that Hubby and I leave the kids for very long but there have been times, like today, when we've left the kids with a "babysitter". Of course by babysitter I mean a family member or a friend that we've known for a long time.
     Today my mom watched the kids while Hubby and I went to a wedding (which was beautiful by the way). There are a few things that are important for babysitters to know if you're leaving a child in a harness with them:
          1. Show them how to change a diaper around the harness. This is important because there is a learning curve to it. Chances are in the first few days of your child having the harness you developed a technique to getting diapers on efficiently.
          2. Make sure if you have multiple children that your sitter knows what is "off limits" to your child. This may seem common sense to you; however,  a sitter may not know that your child cannot sit in another child's Bumbo seat without modification or that they should not (and really can't while being in the harness) be put into a jumper.
          3. Cleaning instructions. This may not be needed but it's good to know that the harness can only be spot cleaned (if that is the type of harness you have).
     Of course these things are just additions to whatever information or schedule you may outline for your sitter normally.
     Today my sitter (my mom) teamed up with my sister to take the kids to pick strawberries.

Big Brother picking strawberries.

Froggie and Grandma picking strawberries. 

Hubby and I at the wedding

Bring on Summer!

     Happy Summer everybody!

     Today is the first official day of summer. The weather today was beautiful but Froggie and I were stuck inside at work/school for most of the day. This evening while we were waiting on dinner we ventured outside and Froggie ended up in the swing. She LOVED it! And my mom was able to get her in it without having to remove the harness! 

     Unfortunately the temperature is supposed to sky rocket and the storms are supposed to roll in and we've got an action packed weekend ahead. 

Another Tooth!

Froggie playing with her toes

     You read right! Froggie's second tooth appears to be coming in quickly. You can kind of see it in the picture. Please ignore my chipping nail polish, it needs redone badly!

     These are the bubbles that cause problems! Froggie blows bubble and drools SO MUCH that it soaks her shirt if she's not wearing a bib and sometimes gets her harness pretty wet. So we've been having her wear bibs for most of the day and try to have her wear dresses and shirts over the harness so that it only gets damp rather than soaked. 

     In addition to a new tooth Froggie got some pretty jewelry today. After some discussion with Hubby we decided to have her ears pierced. We decided that the risk of something happening to them was less since she can't play with them. She was going to get cute little crowns but they were sold out so she got little balls instead. She did really well over all and Big Brother got to enjoy a sucker for her.

Froggie with her earrings.

Hoppy Birthday Daddy, love Froggie

     

    Froggie LOVES her daddy and today is his birthday! Unfortunately this year our birthdays have mostly fallen during the week so there isn't much festivity. We went to work/school as usual and picked up a yummy cake on the way home. Hubby loves Oreos so I picked up an Oreo cake to try. 

    We had to run a quick errand when I got home from work and then we headed out to Famous Daves for dinner.  the food was tasty and Big Brother was pretty well behaved. The kids love Hubby so much and he's such a good dad. Froggie and Big Brother wanted pictures with their daddy to document his being another year older.

     When we got home and had to sing "Happy Birthday" and eat some cake! It's been a pretty long day but I hope Hubby had a good birthday; he definitely deserves it for all the love and support he shows us on a daily basis. 

Hip Hop 5K

     Like I said, I'm all about the 5k's this summer!
     The Hip Hop 5k is happening in Easton, MA on August 24th. The money raised during this event is going to benefit the International Hip Dysplasia Institute and the Boston Children's Hospital Hip Program.
     Unfortunately I will not be able to attend and participate in this event, because it is simply too far away, but every little bit helps and I can at least spread the word. Most cases of hip dysplasia are missed in children because screening methods are currently lacking.
     Without the support of patients, their families, and those in the community hip dysplasia will continue to be an unheard of diagnosis. The more people know about hip dysplasia the less likely it will become for cases to go undiagnosed!
     If you are near Easton, MA and able to participate in the 5k please show your support. If not and you can spare a few dollars to go towards treatment and awareness please donate here.

     Here's your daily dose of Froggie - She has started to play with her toes and frequently hangs out like this.

Teething Bites!

     Well it's official - we have a tooth!
     Froggie has been working on this tooth for quite some time and has been excessively drooly which was causing her to have some upset tummy issues. I highly recommend bibs and wearing clothes over the harness during teething to protect it from drool and spit up which may be more frequent and unpredictable during teething.
     For the last week or so we would be able to feel the tooth had broken through her gums in the evening but by morning her gums had swollen back over her tooth and healed so that the entire process had to start over.
     This morning when I checked her gums they had not swollen over and I could feel the entire tooth! I waited all day to see if they would swell back up and they haven't yet so I'm now confident she's got a tooth and it's not going anywhere!
     This was a much different experience than with Big Brother - he sprouted two teeth almost overnight with no indication to us that they were coming! I'm sure there are lots of adventures in teething to come but today Froggie overcame her first battle!

THE TOOTH!

Hoppy Father's Day

     Happy Father's Day from Froggie to all you dads out there.
     It has been tradition for our family that Hubby goes golfing on Father's Day with his dad and uncles. Today wasn't any different, though I thought it was going to rain on them. So Hubby got to hang out and golf a few holes before he strained his wrist again.
     Aside from golfing and being gifted with the beautiful handprints the kids made today was a typical Sunday. We went grocery shopping and had dinner, made sure everyone was clean and prepared for the week and now it's time to relax.
     The one thing I wanted today was a picture of Hubby and the kids. We take a lot of pictures of the kids but not so many pictures of us with them. We make a conscious effort to have family pictures taken (professionally) once a year and we typically hand off our camera to a family member at holidays or special occasions to have a picture taken of all of us. These were the best two pictures that came out of my attempts to get some pictures of Hubby and the kids.

     I hope that everyone had a relaxing weekend and that everyone had a wonderful Father's Day. I'm trying to pack the mornings this week week with fun activities since I'll be working later in the evening than usual. 

Retail Therapy

     Today was pretty low key. Hubby had to work in the morning and after lunch Big Brother headed to nap while the rest of us fell asleep in the living room. After nap we slowly collected ourselves with the intention of going to do a little retail therapy then heading out to visit with some friends of ours.
     Shopping went well and we stocked up on some necessities for Froggie since she'll be working food into her routine in August (or later depending on when she starts acting ready for it).
     While we were at Babies R Us I found a clearanced out Thomas train (not Thomas but Emily for any of you who follow Thomas the Friends). This was an awesome find since they're pretty expensive and it was one of the wooden ones, which I tend like better than the die cast ones. Anyway, it was floating around the cart and Big Brother wasn't supposed to see it but Hubby picked him up and of course then he wanted it and of course we said not right now. Two year olds don't like to be told "no". This turned into a full on screaming, crying tantrum and it's probably a good thing neither Hubby or I embarrass easily because this may have been his worst tantrum to date. Typically they last a minute or two and then he gets distracted and completely forgets what he was upset about but today he was fixated on the train in the cart that he couldn't have.
     Needless to say we cancelled all of our plans of being out and headed back home. There were two more small tantrums at the grocery store when we stopped to pick up food to make for dinner and intermittent whining throughout the evening. The joys of having a two year old!
     Anyway, back to Froggie! She made out with some pretty cool stuff. A new hat and pair of shades.

     And she got her very own Wubbanub!

     I LOVE these things! When Big Brother was about 18 months old we ditched 99% of our binky stash and bought him a Wubbanub duck and told him that was the only one he could have. It was fairly easy to keep track of and it made my plan for weaning him from his binky a little easier. When he was about 22 months old he "lost" ducky before we had to walk out the door so we went cold turkey to get rid of the binky. When we got home we quickly found ducky, removed the binky, and sewed up his mouth. Then we carried around ducky for awhile without a binky attached to him and now ducky stays in his bed. Hopefully Froggie's new froggy will last her and she seems to like it so far.

Here Comes Another Weekend!

     The weekend has finally come! We packed up and went to school/work and had a fun filled day of playing with our friends and making extra special Father's Day crafts.

Froggie making her craft (painting).

     Both of my kids seem to love to make things. I wonder how much of that is due to the fact that starting at birth they are subjected to a billion photos and art making and how much is just hard wired into them.

     After school/work we headed home and after what seems like 2 weeks of gross weather the sun was finally out so we decided to take a walk. In preparation for our upcoming 5k's Froggie went in the jogging stroller and Big Brother walked with my hubby and I. It went surprisingly well and a few minutes into our walk Froggie was asleep. 

     Overall it was a great day and a low key kick off to the weekend.

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Clinical Check

     This morning was a clinical check for Froggie. This means we were just going in to make sure she was still tolerating the harness and that it was fitting the right way.

     We got there early and headed in quickly to avoid the rain. After a few minutes in the waiting room we were taken back and Froggie was weighed in at 13lb 2oz. We were then escorted to our typical exam room and waited for Froggie's doctor to review her files and come in. 

     I had mentioned to the nurses that I was concerned about a popping/snapping sound that occasionally came from Froggie's right leg. After she went to add it to Froggie's file Froggie and I returned to making faces at each other and playing with her blankie and frog. I also requested copies of Froggie's X-ray and Ultrasound to keep with all of her records (I walked out with them on CD at the end of our appointment!).

     Froggie's doctor adjusted her harness back to the looser original settings that he had tightened at our las appointment. We were once again reminded to keep up with tummy time and Froggie's doctor took a closer look at her hips to see if anything was causing the noise. He wiggled her legs all around and said that everything felt ok and it may be the ligaments in her knee. He mentioned that the harness isn't able to properly do its' job once Froggie starts to roll over and move more. What I took away from this is that Froggie would then be able to put herself in a position that would keep her hips from laying in the way the harness is supposed to keep them.

Froggie checking out her feet.

     When I explained to the doctor that Froggie is starting to roll from side to side and if her harness is off she can roll from her belly to her back he mentioned that he would like her to wear the harness for another month but at her next check we would do X-rays to check her progress. So July 11th we find out what the fate of the harness is!

Tummy time at school after her appointment.

     This evening Big Brother was showing his little sister the wonderful world of his cars. He even let her hold his brand new Mater!

Eating Mater!