Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Been Awhile


This post is from my other blog which I have now merged with this one. I decided to merge all my old posts about Savannah's life into this blog and use my other one for a personal blog. There are a lot of old posts I've now added on here from 2007 and one new one from 2008. The following is a copy of my last blog post from my other blog.

It's been awhile since I've posted. I have been using my other blog since Savannah was diagnosed with hip dysplasia at her 9 month check-up. The other blog is called Savannah's Hip Story, and is located at http://savannahs-hip-journey.blogspot.com. I am going to try to start posting on better on both blogs, but that might prove impossible with all we've had to take on lately.

We still have the two hemangioma's, and she currently has another open sore on the one in her diaper region. We've been treating that in hopes it will just heal up and she won't have to go through another laser treatment. She's been through so much already, and it's just not fair. She has been such a great baby, and I just want all of this to be over and for her to be a normal little girl again.

I feel like we are always either making dr. appointments, or at an appointment these days. She has two appointments in March, and two in April. If the sore on her hemangioma doesn't heal on it's own, another appointment will have to be made for that. One of her appointments that's already scheduled is for the pediatric neurologist. She still has twiches and things going on that we are concerned about. I hope it's all behavioral, but with everything else she's endured, I want to be completely certain. I am truely nervous about that appointment.

That is about the gist of my life lately. Savannah has been in a brace for a little over a month now, and we have 5 more to go. There is a 50/50 chance she will need to have another surgery when she's 18 months, and that would put her back in a spica cast for another 6 weeks. I am praying for a miracle because I don't know how I will be able to endure another surgery and cast after seeing her so happy and mobile in the brace. I am praying that she will need no other surgeries, and that this brace is our last step in this hip journey.

Sunday, March 2, 2008

Bathtime

We've been sponge bathing Savannah up until today. Her orthopedic specialist told us we could bath her out of the brace if one of us held her legs apart while the other bathed her. We felt this was going to be way to hard, so we've been sponging her until now. Neither of us could no longer stand watching her not be able to take any kind of bath besides the sponging. She loves the bath so much, and she's missed splashing and all that. We decided to give it a try, and I am so glad we did. She loved it.

We have a little white dish type tub we bought from the dollar store awhile back. We use it for her bath toys. Anyway, Matt got the bright idea to turn that over inside the tub and sit her on it with her legs apart. It actually worked like a charm, keeping her legs angled exactly like they were in the brace. We filled the tub up enough so she could reach the water and splash all she wanted without her legs moving from their position. Matt held her while I bathed her, and then continued to hold her and let her play a bit. She was so happy, and it was just wonderful seeing her take somewhat of a normal bath again.

She didn't want to get out when the time came, and she let us know it. She was not thrilled about being put back in her brace either, but I honestly think some of that was the fact she didn't want to get out of the tub yet! I can't blame her since she's been through so much and has missed bathtime too. We are going to do this at least once a week now that we know we can bathe her this way fairly easily.

I try not to think about her future too much, because I will worry myself silly over it. I can't help but think about it sometimes though. I am praying for a miracle when she's 18 months because I don't know what I will do if she has to have surgery and another spica cast then. After seeing her in the brace, standing and cruising, and being a more active happy baby, I can't imagine having to go back to that cast, even if it would only be for 6 weeks. I just can't stand the thought of it. It breaks my heart to even think about it. We were told on our last visit that she had a 50/50 chance. I just hate waiting and not knowing for sure. This has been the hardest thing I've ever done in my life, and I just want it to all be over!