Spica Cast

I went a little crazy with pictures on this post but she is just so darn cute. Anyone I talk to on a regular basis probably got so sick of hearing me talk about this stinkin' cast but this was a really huge part of our lives for a couple of months. Delilah's hips were displaced, it's just something she was born with. This meant that the head of her femur did not sit right in the hip socket. The socket was too shallow to hold the bone properly and the bone was not in the correct position.

We tried a harness for 6 weeks starting when she was six weeks old then a brace for about a month when she was 6 months old. Neither one of them worked so the next step was the spica cast. This is a procedure where they put her under and inject a dye into her so they're able to see the placement of her hips. Once they're in the right position the doctor sets them with a cast. She had to wear the cast for 8 weeks. It was put on June 30th and removed August 30th.

It was kind of a bummer that it was on during the summer because we weren't able to take her swimming at all. Oh well, we managed.
Here are pictures of Ms Daisy the day before the procedure. She was always so happy and smiley. That was one of my greatest worries...that I would lose my happy girl and get a fuss bucket in return. She had also just started crawling, so I was concerned that she'd be pretty mad that she was immobilized.

Here she is getting her last bath for 8 weeks. Oh how I was not looking forward to having a smelly baby. What did I tell ya though? Always smiling!

These are pictures we took in the pre-op room. Lilah was so cute. She kept kicking her legs all over the place as if she knew it was the last time she'd be able to for a long time. The nurse kept calling her a boy, even after we said her name was Delilah. I must admit, she did look a bit boyish in those blue hospital jammies.

The hardest thing I have ever had to do in my entire life is hand my baby over to the anesthesiologist as they took her through doors that I could not enter. I've never felt so helpless. I'm getting teary again just thinking about it. Even though I knew this was a fairly non-invasive procedure and she'd be fine, it was still so so hard. The second hardest thing was watching my baby come out of the anesthesia. Talk about heart wrenching! She'd wake up for a few seconds just screaming, then she'd fall back into sleep, then she'd wince in her sleep and this just continued for a little while. HELPLESS. I once again started to cry and the nurse looked at me and asked if she was my first baby. I was a bit confused as to why she'd ask that. I told her that she was my third but the first one I've ever been in the hospital with (well, other than the time Addison stuck a Polly Pocket shoe up her nose). She just kind of smiled at me and went back to work. For a split second I thought that maybe I was over reacting. Nah, even if this was my tenth baby I'd be just as emotional. I have to say though, when she came out of it for good she just started giggling. That was the sweetest thing ever.

Here's our little bear checking out her new threads. The edges around the cast were very rough & sharp so the nurses wrapped mole skin around them as to not irritate her skin. They said normally when they do that the kids are screaming the whole time. Delilah just laid there and watched them do it. They all kept commenting on how good she was. That's my girl!

The first few days were a challenge, I'm not going to lie. I think I cried more during those 2 months than she did. Figuring out how to sleep, change diapers, sit her up, hold her, feed her, get her in a car seat, stroller, etc. It was awful, but we did just fine. After about the first week everything just became "normal". I didn't even think twice about doing all of those things. The funny thing is, I got so used to it all that when it came time for the cast to come off it took me a little while to get back in the habit of doing things the "right" way.

I would have to say that the most crushing part was holding her. I don't mean the physical act of holding her (although that was difficult) but just the feel of holding her. I so desperately wanted to hold her close and cuddle and feel her soft, squishy body up against me but all I could feel was that hard, scratchy cast. Babies are in this stage for such a short time & I just felt like I was being jipped some precious moments. Looking back though I realize I was not jipped at all. We are extremely blessed. Just look at this sweet girl, she's perfect. Our moments together were perfect too. Perhaps a bit unconventional, but perfect none the less.

This may have made the whole cast experience worth it. Is this not the cutest bum shot ever! hee hee, I love it.

Well what do you know? Still as happy as can be. She's all smiles in her bean bag chair. We found that this was the easiest way to sit her up. My sweet grandma & aunt Debbie sent her the cutest little lady bug bean bag chair.

It is absolutely amazing to me how adaptable children are. Within about 2 weeks she could get wherever she wanted to go. She was fast too! She would just use her little arms to slither all over the place. She was able to flip from her her stomach to her back but not the other way around. That big old bar got in her way.

These pictures are in the morning before the cast came off. She did so great with it on. I was really worried about the smell but luckily it never got too bad. She did not have a blow out the entire 8 weeks. A couple of days before it was to be taken off she did throw up and it got all down inside of her cast. I was just so grateful that we were almost done.

She loved having one hand down her cast. Not sure why.

These are marks the cast left just from rubbing on her for so long.

This is a rug burn she got because her skin was so sensitive from not having been exposed to anything for 8 weeks. It actually looks a lot better here, this picture was a couple of days later. I felt so bad, I never even thought about keeping her in long pants until her skin toughened up again. Poor thing.

She did really well once the cast was taken off. She was sore & fussy for a couple of days but not too bad. She did develop quite an attitude though. The entire time she was in the cast she never once threw a temper tantrum. She went a bit hog wild once she was out though. I'm not talking about crying or fussing but full on yelling & screaming in anger. I think she just realized that there was not much she could do in the cast so there was no point in fighting it. But once it was off & she knew there was nothing holding her back she would get so mad if she wasn't able to do something. Luckily that has calmed down in the last couple months.

At her 6 week check up the doctor said she looked great. Her hips still weren't quite where he'd like to see them but that should improve as she starts putting more weight on the joints by walking and such. We have a 6 month check up in April just to make sure. She still mostly slithered around after having the cast taken off but has since started crawling and walking around furniture. We're still waiting for her to walk on her own, it won't be too far off.

Sorry, I know I was a bit long winded but I just want to make sure I don't forget any of this stuff because I have a terrible memory.