Pediatric Orthopedist Appointment

Well I guess it is official, Ian has hip dysplasia in his left hip.  We had another ultrasound done and his left hip hadn't improved any so we made the decision to start treatment with Pavlik Harness.  Ian has to wear the harness 24 hours a day for at least 4 weeks but it will likely be 6 weeks of 24 hrs a day and 4 additional weeks wearing it just at night.  The purpose of the harness is to hold the hip in the reduced position to allow the head of the femur (the ball) to mod the acetabulum (the cup). Right now Ian's left cup is shallow and so the ball doesn't stay seated in the cup.  As the ball molds the cup, it deepens the cup, resulting in a stable hip.  In the few hours Ian has been wearing the harness he is able to sleep and isn't bother enough by the harness to not be able to sleep but it does seem like he cries a little more when he is awake and there is a different tone to the cry.  We can also see that he's trying to stretch his legs out (you might remember I listed stretching as one of his favorite things to do right now) and that seems to bother him that his movements are restricted.  Of course Joe and I know he'll never remember any of this and it is harder on us than it is on him.  Joe and I have mixed feelings - some sadness because we don't want Ian to be uncomfortable or anything to hurt him, a little overwhelmed because with Joe's school we were already feeling stressed and now this is something else to overcome.   We know that we're doing the right thing and since we started treatment early it significantly increases his chances that there won't be any last impacts.  So for now we'll take deep breaths and ask God for extra patience at least for the next 4 weeks until our next appointment.  

It is a little hard to tell what is diaper and what is harness in Ian's picture and I didn't want to take off his clothes but you can see better what the harness looks like in the picture below.