Crawling

Tonight Harlow learned to crawl in her cast! I'm so happy for her because she was so happy to be mobile again. I thought she would learn to crawl, but not in just 4 days. It was right after her Daddy left to go watch our Thundercar race, so I am so excited for him to see her crawl tomorrow.

Remember how I said having a toddler in a spica cast is like having an infant again? Well, this is another example. We never thought we would be excited that our child learned to crawl - for a second time.

Sleeping still isn't going very well. She is waking up about every 2 hours or so. I don't exactly know why because even thought she has very good communication she just can't tell me what the problem is. It could be muscle spasms in her legs, discomfort from the cast, or just pure frustration because she still can't understand why this happened to her. I think she is just mad. She can't tell me what's wrong when she is upset. She wants held and then she doesn't. She wants her blankie and then she doesn't. Whatever she says she wants she refuses once you give it to her. She will cry for a few minutes and then she will just stop and relax and snuggle back in with her blankie.

No one ever said having a toddler in a spica cast would be easy, but it's not all bad either. Other than the moments of pure frustration Harlow is still the happy little girl she always was. When the moments are bad you just have to remember the purpose of the cast.


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Spica Cast Diapering

Diapering in a Spica Cast is a huge pain in the butt!...literally lol! The cast doesn't leave a large opening & there isn't a lot of space between cast & skin. When diapering you have to use a smaller sized diaper with a feminine pad in it & that you actually push up into the diaper. Then you take a normal size diaper and put it on the outside of the cast. Basically the point is to not let anything get on the cast. Hahahaha talk about impossible. It's all about trial & error. We are on day 3 & we are still erring lol. I think we'll get it tonight though. We are going down another size & putting size 2 diapers inside with her 5 on the outside. The hospital said use size 3's but they are just too big for Harlow's little butt.

I thought we were done with the baby stage, but a Spica Cast really takes your toddler back to the baby days - diaper issues, not being able to walk, & even middle of the night diaper changes.




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Day 3

Last night was very dramatic. Harlow was beyond mad at the world. She couldn't sleep. She was crying, screaming, beating on her cast, & I'm pretty sure she would have been using ever 4 letter word had she known them. She was so mad she didn't even want her most prized possession....blankie! She prefers regular Tylenol over her prescription Tylenol #3, but at 5am I got her to take the prescription & she finally slept for almost 4 straight hours & was much happier in the morning.

The day has been good. We planted her Miracle Gro Indoor Greenhouse Vegetable Garden. She had a previous one, but it accidentally got knocked down & ruined. We are excited to see how big the vegetables grow until her cast comes off. She has Sweet Peppers, Cucumbers, Small Red Tomatoes, & Easter Eggplants. I highly recommend the Miracle Gro kids planters. They are fun & so easy to do!

Sorry to say we missed the Royal Wedding, but we hope they live happily ever after.

Harlow having belly play time today.




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Spica Cast Day 1 & 2

Harlow's surgery was a success. The Doctor came out & told us it couldn't have gone any better. He didn't have to do as much as he thought. She has a very tiny incision. He had to snip one tendon & then her hip went right back into place. She even got to come home the same day!

After her surgery she was really out of it & upset. Finally she got some pain medication & she calmed down. We went from post-op to recovery & got to just relax for awhile. Harlow was doing well watching Disney Jr. However, every time she would start to fall asleep the nurse would come in and start messing with her. Then Harlow would get upset and till she was almost asleep again the nurse would come back! Ugh! We could've left earlier than we did, but Occupational Therapy was screwing around on getting us the Spica Car Seat (Hippo Seat). Once we finally got it we headed home! She slept the entire ride home. She was in a much better mood at home. She had some chicken nuggets & cookies :-) Her Grandmas stopped by to visit for a little.

She slept all night! I got up & checked on her about 4am & she was sleeping. At 5 she fussed a little, but I think all the lightening woke her up. She went right back to sleep & then woke up at 7:30.

All day she was in a great mood. She watched Blue's Clues, played with some little figures, colored, did some puzzles. Her Grammy & Pap came to visit & she was laughing & carrying on like her old self. We even went for a walk with a rigged up stroller!

Hoping for another quiet night & great day....one day at a time though :-)

Here is a pic once Harlow came home & was relaxing with a Popsicle.




Here is another pic from our walk



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Developmental Dysplasia of the Hip

As I sit here typing this our 2 year old daughter is in the operating room. They are correcting her DDH. DDH or Developmental Dysplasia of the hip is An abnormal formation of the hip joint. Harlow's occurred prior to birth. She was breech from 24-35 weeks when she was born via c-section. It wasn't diagnosed at birth however because her hips seemed to be where they should with no clicks or limited movement.

Harlow was diagnosed shortly after her 2nd birthday. Her left leg appeared shorter than the right. Her pediatrician sent her to an Orthopedic Pediatric Specialist who diagnosed her from a x-ray. He then referred us to an Orthopedic Pediatric Surgeon which brings us to Today...

Harlow is having her left hip corrected as I type. They will put her in a Spica cast for up to 18 weeks after I correct the hip. Follow along with us as we take the Spica cast journey and see how we survive :-)

Here is a pic of her right before she headed to the operating room.