Primary Children's: Part 2

This morning we went back up to Primary Children's and met with the orthopedic specialist.  I discovered that he's pretty much an awesome guy!  There was an article on the wall in the waiting room about how he spent time on a medical ship off Africa's coast treating people there with leg deformities.  Also, he created some of the tools and techniques used for those surgeries.  Needless to say, I feel pretty good about having him take care of my baby!

Here's how it went down: Lexsi's hip sockets aren't formed properly, which we already knew.  A normal socket covers at least 50% of the ball joint in the leg, and the socket is at a 60 degree angle.  In Lexsi's hips, one socket covers 19% and one covers 20%, and the angle of one is 37 degrees and the other is 40.  So, her hips are pretty much terrible.  They told us that this condition is most common in first children who are females.  Not sure why that is, but I did feel comforted knowing that, and they said they rarely see siblings with the same problem [which made me think of Ranee and her feet].  For now, we have to keep her in a little harness, which she has to wear all day, except to bathe her and to wash the harness when it needs it.  Here's what it looks like:

We call her our "Little Froggy," since her legs are held out like that.  She can still move them around, which will hopefully cause the ball joint to kind of carve itself into the socket, helping it form correctly.  She really doesn't seem to mind the harness, which is a blessing!  She can't wear pants any more, so she'll be rockin onesies and nightgowns for the next month.  We'll go back up for another ultrasound and meet with the orthopedic doctor again next month and see where we need to go from there.

I feel incredibly blessed that our pediatrician caught this issue, because all the doctors have had a hard time actually popping her hip out of joint, so I think it would have been easy to miss.  However, since they caught it so early (the day she was born), we can treat it early and hopefully get it fixed quickly so she can be ready to crawl and walk before we know it!

In other news, this sweet little girl is one month old today, and I took her monthly pictures with her lion.  Today, I even got a little smile out of her:

I just adore this little lady!  She was worth every minute of the wait it took to get her here!  And even with these medical issues she's dealing with, I wouldn't change this opportunity of motherhood for anything, especially with this little angel I get to call my own!!!

Primary Children's: Part 1

On the day Alexsi was born, our doctor told us she had Congenital Hip Displaysia.  Basically her hip joints didn't form properly, and her hips can pop out.  It's not terribly serious, especially when caught so early.  We've been keeping her in 3 diapers at all times just to help stabilize her hips.  Today we went up to Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake for her to get an ultrasound.  The radiologist told us both her hips are formed abnormally, and we will need to meet with an orthopedic surgeon to discuss what happens next.  We have an appointment to do so on Thursday morning.  What will probably happen is that she'll have to be in a brace to hold her legs in place to try to get the hips to re-form properly.  Other options include a cast that will hold them in place, and/or surgery, if necessary.  We're optimistic, and extremely grateful it was caught so early!

When we got to the radiology wing I went up to the counter to check Alexsi in.  I heard someone crying, and glanced over to the hall and saw a little boy in a wheelchair with his mom and a nurse waiting outside the imaging rooms.  I gave them a quick smile and continued with my own business.  After I checked Lexsi in, I got a better look at the boy, who was still crying, and my heart sank.  He was bald, and I assumed he had cancer.  Sure enough, I heard a nurse say he was 6 years old and had leukemia.  I was having a really hard time keeping my composure, listening to him cry.  He was in the imaging room next to us and he continued to cry for the entire half hour we were there.  It was absolutely heartbreaking.  I saw his mom just rubbing his head, and that was equally heartbreaking, knowing that she really couldn't do more for him.  Naturally, my thoughts went to my own sweet mother-in-law and brother-in-law.  I've heard the stories of how my BIL had leukemia as a small child [twice] and how my MIL spent so much time in Primary Children's with him while my father-in-law and the rest of the kids stayed in Wyoming.  I've even seen some pictures of him during the process.  Still, nothing made it as real to me as seeing this sweet little boy today.  It made me realize even more how incredible my MIL is, to somehow make it through that process with him not once, but twice.  It made me appreciate a little more how difficult it must have been for my FIL to stay in Wyoming with all his other kids and go to work every day, trying to make life as normal as possible while his wife and son were in another state in such an unstable condition.  In made me SO grateful for Grandma Savage and the aunts in Lovell, who stepped in to take care of my husband and his siblings while their mom was gone, which must have been so difficult for everyone involved.  It made me thankful that my BIL is still here, that he was able to persevere through that trial twice, and that I get to know him now and be related to him.  He's just about the funniest person I've ever met in my life, and is one of the most positive people I've ever known.  

I keep picturing that sweet boy in my head, and really it's just heart-wrenching.  I'm grateful, though, for the perspective I gained today.  I'm going to hug my baby a little tighter tonight.  I'm so grateful that all I have to worry about are her hips.

Whoops!

So, last night when I decided it was time for Lexsi's bath, I took her into her bedroom to change her diaper first. [Unrelated side-note:  Ever time I type the word "diaper,"  in my head I pronounce it "die-uh-per."  Ha!]  Okay, so I took her clothes off and cleaned her up, then wrapped her in a blanket to take her out to her bath.  I didn't see a point in putting a diaper back on when she was about to be bathed.  Of course you can see where this is going.  I was holding her when suddenly my stomach felt very warm... I put my hand up under her bum, and of course it was all wet.  I squealed, then started laughing my head off.  Really, it was my own fat fault for carrying around a naked baby in a blanket!  She peed through all my layers of clothing.  I'm still laughing about it!

There's a reason I have a washer and dryer in my home.

Quick and Easy Baby Dress

In her 3 weeks of life, my sweet baby has only had one blowout diaper.  The best part was, I was in the shower when it happened, and didn't even hear about it until after she was cleaned up (thanks, Keesh!).  However, I also didn't realize her onesie had been affected, and I found this days later:

(My mom has since informed me that to clean white onesies in this situation, you use a mixture of bleach and dishwasher soap.  Who knew?)    Anyway, there was no way I was putting that on my child.  Even though it's washed and clean, I couldn't feel good about it.  SO-- I decided to make it into a dress.  I had every intention of taking pictures in the process, but Alexsi woke up and was fussing, so I just whipped it up quickly.  Basically I took a pre-ruffled jersey knit and cut it to the same width as the circumference of the onsie, then sewed it on, sewed a ribbon around the top of the skirt as well, and attached a little bow. Ta-daaa!  A new easy dress:

Haha it's a little see-through in this picture cause it stretched tight over her triple-diapered bum.  Haha!  Love that girl :)

Proof She's Mine

So, my girl looks nothing like me.  She's 100% her daddy's girl.  When people see us together, they probably think that; a.) I stole her, or b.) I'm not a real blonde.  But I didn't, and I am.  And anyway, I have proof that she's mine:

1- She takes FOREVER to wake up.  She'll start stirring around and grunting and stretching and yawning-- and you think that means she's waking up, right?  WRONG!  When these things start happening, you've still got a good 30 minutes before you'll see her eyeballs.  That's me all the way!

2- She LOVES having her head rubbed.  Even when she's wide awake, if you start rubbing her head, she starts to relax and drift off to sleep.  I'm totally the same way.

3- She wants to be SUPER snuggled all the time.  When she sleeps, we wrap her in a receiving blanket and then tuck her into a big thick quilt as well, and she'll sleep for a long time.  I almost always have a blanket wrapped around me, even when I'm dressed in long sleeves and pants.

So there.  Proof that she's actually my daughter.  Ta-daaa!