Major Leakage

It was the worst nappy episode since the brace was fitted. I had to remove everything, place the bare child on her changing mat on the floor and make a dash for the sink with the brace, her liner stockings, the Napisan and a scrubbing brush. YUK! Of course, baby was filled with joy at the surprise opportunity to roll around nappy-less on the floor... oh the freedom... yippee!!

I'm quite proud of the fact that in three weeks its the only such emergency we've had, I really thought we'd average at least one a day!

Hip fashion!

Its hard to dress a child with hip dysplasia - I mean, how do you cover their bare legs? You can't put trousers over the brace as its too wide, and socks only come to below the knee. I cut the legs off some pairs of tights she had, and used them as very long socks, but the ends frayed and they didn't stay up.

So, I came across a pair of baby leg warmers in TK Maxx. Perfect! I managed to rescue the very last grubby pair which were half buried under the socks and tights stand. Given that one pair wasn't going to be enough, I hit eBay when I got home and found a whole load of them. The ones I bought are called Leg Huggers - go to
www.leghuggers.com and they are just gorgeous! Another site is www.babylegs.com, but these seem a bit more expensive.

The Leg Huggers ones are made with bamboo, are UV protective, odor resistant and antibacterial, so are perfect to be worn inside my daughter's little brace next to her delicate skin. They will prevent her skin chafing at the backs of the knees and will absorb moisture from her skin, keeping her warm and comfy, and they look so cute!

A definite success - each one counts. :)

"Happy Hour"

Each day, we are lucky enough to be able to remove the hip brace for up to an hour to allow a little exercise and a bath. We call it 'happy hour' because it is just that... an entire hour of freedom for my daughter to wriggle, kick and play without restriction. She just loves it! She laughs uncontrollably at everything and nothing all at once. She gets to practice rolling over, which she hasn't quite managed yet, but she sure tries her best! She chats away to herself and tries to reach for and eat everything in sight. It makes such a difference to her having the brace removed for that short time each day. We are just grateful that eventually a day will come when she can take it off for good.

Hugs and cuddles to all the hip babies everywhere, they rock! :)

Hippy Chick

My little girl has hip dysplasia. http://www.babyhips.ie/

We are very very very blessed that her hips were not dislocated, and so she didn't need traction, or surgery or anything really scary like that. But she does need to wear an abduction brace for the next 18 weeks, and we'll have to wait and see what happens after that.

Initially, its upsetting to see a little baby (especially such a cute one) in a spica cast or a brace, as it looks very uncomfortable for them, and they are obviously very restricted in it. And yes, she does know that she's in it as she gets really excited when we get to take it off for baths (we are SO lucky!). And when she looks at her little cousin crawling around on the floor, she patiently plays with her hands or a toy, knowing that she can't do what he's doing just yet. But, hard as it is to sit by and watch all the other babies learn new skills and develop their confidence, I know that she'll get there one day and we'll be just as proud as all the other mummies and daddies, if not more so.

But amazingly she just copes with it. She takes the whole thing in her stride and just sees the fun and joy around her through those big blue eyes. She's just a happy little girl, regardless. Its incredible how proud of her we are.

First tooth!

My little lady cut her first tooth today... yay! And the little divil won't let mama near it to have a look. Mouth clamps shut as if to say "that's mine... get your own"!

Gotta love it :)

The Grand Arrival

So, my little angel was born at 35 weeks and 3 days. She gave me one unholy fright! My waters broke (well, burst would be a more accurate term) in my mum's house after dinner one Sunday afternoon. Thankfully, my sister and her children were also there, and so even though it was hectic, she managed to instruct my partner over the phone to pack my hospital bag and meet us there in double quick time.

Anyway, 30 or so hours later, my lovely bundle arrived to great excitement. She was simply perfect.

By the way, there are many 'essentials' for a hospital bag, but if you end up in hospital as long as I was, two must haves are deoderant and a razor... and I say that as I somehow went without them for over a week.

That aside, my little baby girl developed jaundice by day 3. This is quite normal for newborns, but when a baby is premature their little liver is too immature to breakdown the biliruben, and so it is very important to treat it in the hospital. She spent day 3 to day 8 in an incubator under the bililights. Oh this was such a slow process, as her biliruben levels kept going up and down and spiking higher each time they went up.

As a mother, all you can do is sit there and wait, and feed her as much as possible as the fluid also helps to flush out the poison. Its a tough start for any new mum, and when your baby isn't by your side, you imagine they must be frightened and lonely without you. They also have to get bloods taken every few hours, so their little hands get very bruised and they don't like it.

So we eventually got home from the hospital and I eventually got some sleep. After 10 days of near total sleep deprivation - from trying to feed a lethargic jaundiced baby and expressing breastmilk between feeds - I was ready to collapse. In fact I nearly did. Doctor used the words 'post traumatic stress', and of course the dreaded PND also invaded my life.

Trouble was, my partner had used up all his holidays and had returned to work by the time I came home from hospital. The in-laws sent round a few dinners and that was box ticked it seemed. I'm grateful for the small amount of support we received, but it wasn't ideal.

All in all, the shock eventually wears off. The one thing that is very hard to let go of is the notion that we can control what happens. None of this is in our control. Once we can accept that, we eventually learn to go with the flow.

New beginnings

She's just gone down for a nap... little angel.

My little girl is 7 months old. She's my first daughter and I'm still in awe of anyone who has more than one child on purpose. You know when you're pregnant and other people who have had kids are looking at you half with sympathy and half with relief that its not them. They make jokes about how the kids are much easier 'on the inside', just when you're feeling like a bloated orca who can't eat more than three mouthfulls and needs to pee 51 times an hour. Oh yes, they talk about how hard its going to be and how you will need all the support you can get, even from the likes of your mother-in-law. 'Not me' you think, and that anyone who says those things must be some sort of numb-skull who can't manage a baby.

HA!!

Anyway, yes, we all discover in time that while it is second to none in terms of memorable, life-changing experiences that you don't want to miss a second of, it is also the most heart-wrenchingly difficult phase in your life. And if you can make sense of the world around you through the fog of sleep deprivation and the constant ringing in your ears (is it the baby, the washing machine or me?) you realise that no matter how much help is offered, you are, essentially, chained to a whiney, poopey, tiny human being who is utterly helpless and has no idea what time it is.

But, thankfully, we fall head over heels in love with this tiny helpless human being, and realise what a truly amazing feat we have accomplished in creating its very existence.

And thats when the fun starts...