Willow is Walking!

One of my biggest fears with a hip dysplasia diagnosis was not being able to see Willow hit all of her milestones. About a week before her surgery was scheduled Willow had started pushing her self up onto her hands and knees and rocking back and forth. My mom heart was so sad to see her so close to crawling because I knew with a spica cast she would be very limited in her movement.

It took Willow about a week to get used to the spica cast. And then she blew me away with the upper body strength to scoot around! The cast weighed about 3 pounds on her small little body, but she figured out her own way to get around and do the things she needed to do.

Fast forward to when the spica cast came off. It had been 11 weeks since she had been able to use her legs. The doctors and technicians had warned us that babies are usually in some pain and discomfort when the spica cast comes off. My husband and I had prepared ourselves for the worst, but of course, our Willow blew us away with how quickly she adapted to having her legs back! She appeared to be in no pain and was so excited to have her legs free. Our orthopedic surgeon was even blown away how quickly she adapted.

Even after all of these experiences I still have my doubts and fears with Willow’s development. We had a check up about 3 weeks ago at Gillette Children’s clinic in Bursnville. They took more x-rays of Willow’s hips to see how they are doing. More of her bones were visible because they have started to calcify. Her right hip is still looking amazing- Praise God! Her left hip, which is her bad hip, is doing ok. It is in the right position but about 5 degrees off of where they would like to see it. It is sitting at a 30-degree angle instead of a 25. The hope is that over time she will walk and the pressure will put her hip into a better position. We will continue to go in for check ups every 3-4 months until she is 3 years old. At that time we will decide if another surgery is necessary.

Friday, August 11th the most amazing thing happened. Willow took about 5 steps toward me. I was so overjoyed to see my baby girl overcome so many obstacles in her short year of life and now be walking!! I was bawling like the proud momma I was. It was one of those moments in life I will never forget. Since then she has become a walking machine! Still a little unstable, but doing so well.