Throwback Thursday: Hip Dysplasia

I'm linking up with Jessica at The Mom Creative again this week for #TBTStories. Since we are headed to the hospital today for a follow up from my daughter's surgery to correct her hip dysplasia, I thought I would share a picture from her first open reduction back in Aug 2010.

Caitlyn was diagnosed with hip dysplasia at her 4 month appointment. I think she was about 5 months old when we finally got to meet with the pediatric orthopedic doctor. The initial step in treatment was to put her in a Pavlick harness, which has a great success rate when DDH (developmental dysplasia of the hip) is diagnosed early. Since she was on the older range of age for it to be successful, it was not.

Since the Pavlick harness was not successful, Caitlyn was scheduled to have a closed reduction in August of 2010. She was scheduled to be in a spica cast for 12 weeks but when she had an MRI done the following day, her hip had already slid out of joint so they removed the cast and she was scheduled for the open reduction a couple of weeks later. The picture was taken in the hospital after her open reduction. The one benefit of the doctor actually having to go in was that it reduced her time in the cast to six weeks.

After the cast, she was in a brace for months. After a couple months, she was able to wear the brace for nights and naps only. At this point I don't remember the whole time frame. However, her hip was still not exactly where it needed to be, so she was scheduled for a femoral osteotomy in February 2012. Thankfully that procedure did not require casting, just some down time to heal. Last May she had a follow up surgery to remove the plate that had been put in her leg. When we followed up in December, her external exams looked great but her x-rays were still showing that her hip was out of place. So she has just had her second open reduction as well as a pelvic osteotomy and another femoral osteotomy on June 9th and is in a spica cast once again. Thankfully we have had the same orthopedic surgeon for all of her procedures, which has been such a blessing. As a bonus, here is my sweet girl in her spica cast currently ... rocking the purple cast this time. She is my trooper and anyone who has known her would not suspect a thing since when she is not in the cast she is rough and tumble, loving to climb trees, run, dance and play.

Throwback Thursday: Father's Day Edition

In honor of Father's Day, I thought I would post a picture of my sister and I with our dad for Throwback Thursday stories with The Mom Creative.

This picture was taken in January 1985. Since my parents are currently here, I could ask the location of the picture. It was taken at our first home in Charleston, SC about a month after my sister was born, so it is probably one of the first pictures of the three of us. I hope you enjoy :)

Throwback Thursday Stories: Engagement

Once again, I am joining in Throwback Thursday Stories, hosted by Jessica at The Mom Creative. Yesterday marked the 9 year anniversary of my engagement to my husband. So I thought I would share the first picture we took after it happened.

So the story behind the picture: we were spending the day in New York City on our way home from a wedding in Massachusetts (one of my husband's roommates from college). We had gotten tickets to see Wicked on Broadway. We decided to go on a carriage ride through Central Park (this was of course after we walked around the entire park since we thought there would be another place to catch a carriage other than just in the front). My husband surprised me when he asked on the carriage ride. I had known that it was coming at some point, and somewhat expected it later that summer when we were scheduled to go on a trip to the British Isles.

My sister is in the picture because she happened to also be in New York that weekend with friends. We met up with her shortly afterwards and it took her about 5 to 10 minutes to notice the ring. I was on the phone with my mom when she walked up, so kept the phone in my right hand so that my mom could hear my sister's reaction. After this picture, we went out to dinner, and changed (in some random store) before going to see Wicked (for the first time). I'm so blessed to have this man in my life. Thanks for stopping by.