Left of Field

Again another hard post to write.

Squeaky is two! Walking, running and climbing. A chatty, happy and boundary pushing toddler who adores vehicles and anything with wheels and hugs and kisses.

We had a second check-up without Ms Biljsma, I went without Mr Gin, because we are just being monitored after being released from the abduction brace.

There was an x-ray request that I wasn’t expecting but I had dressed Squeaky in clothes that made it easier just in case. The x-ray, as always wasn’t fun but he is getting less distraught with them.
The consultant we met was Mr Manoukian. A face I had not seen before. He looked at Squeaky walking and I commented about the intermittent toe walking that he does. Then the normal check of range happened and Squeaky had a good old giggle.

Then I looked at the x-ray. The ball of the femur has almost caught up with the right in shape and bone mass. But Mr Manoukian felt the hip looks like it could be slipping out. When checking his movement the left abduction feels tight as well.

Mr Manoukian said he would consult with the team about what they should do, he felt a general anaesthetic to relax Squeaky and inject the joint with dye to see what it looked like would the first port of call. With a possible Pelvic osteotomy.  He would call us in a week to confirm if they would do anything as it seemed to sitting on the border of intervention.

I called Mr Gin at work with the bad news.

This was two days before Squeaky’s birthday.

The following day I had an appointment with my surgeon, I showed him Squeaky’s x-ray. He said he didn’t do paediatrics but that it looked like it was slipping out.

The red circles show the three months ago and recently.

The following week we waited, and then I called the Royal up and finally sourced a direct dial number. I left a message via the secretary and we got a call the next day. The team had looked at the x-ray and felt there was not need to do the arthrogram and Mr Manoukian had a surgery date for a Pelvic osteotomy and possible femoral osteotomy. The pelvic wiII require bone grafts from other sites inside Squeaky and the Femoral would have metal work. That would have to be removed in 12 month’s time. There would be another Spica cast for (just) six weeks.

It was 12 months since his last surgery to the day. I may have sat on the floor and cried. Mr Gin did the same, at work.

We have approach Great Ormond Street Hospital for second opinion from the senior CDH/DDH specialist there. We have been accepted and are awaiting a date for this.

At this moment, Mr Gin and I are planning that this will go ahead but trying not to put our lives on hold. For the moment, the surgery will happen on the 6th of April.

My feelings are mixed and wide, this has been awful because we thought it was going okay. More surgery was not in our thought processes. My questions now to surgeons will always be, what happens if this does not work.

More information of the procedures.

https://hipdysplasia.org/developmental-dysplasia-of-the-hip/child-treatment-methods/osteotomy/

Monitoring not treating for the moment.

The clinic has a lovely play area.

For the last week we have had almost interruption free sleep. It is astounding, wonderful and still a novelty. Last night Mr Gin and I were chatting and we realised that it is over nine months since this happened. We may get a full nights sleep but we were on average up four times a night, so sleep deprivation felt normal. I got to a point that I could not remember if I had got up but Squeaky had a different dummy or the such like that indicated I had been up plus being shattered! When I was very much out of action Mr Gin was up at least five times a night. So, this week has been bliss!

So, what has bought about this change? Squeaky is out the abduction brace! After six months in the brace at night and three months in the Spica cast we are not doing anything hip related treatment! This is brilliant because the last month has been a hard slog with the brace, he really was getting uncomfortable at night in it and at most he managed five hours before we had to take him out of the brace so he should sleep well. He was generally happy to go in the brace but it was increasingly obvious that he was getting unhappy with it.

We had the three months check-up last week and we both were hoping that because Squeaky had started walking that we could ditch the brace. We arrived in plenty of time to the appointment and went for the standard x-ray. This time we insisted that Squeaky have both his parents with him and as a result it was less stressful and much less upset on his behalf than last time. Holding your child down is never a nice experience but having both of us there meant it was a swift experience and he got Mummy and Daddy cuddles to help with the tears.

In medical speak his angles look good.

 We saw an Orthopaedic Surgeon, Nick, a new face as Ms Biljsma was on maternity leave. He checked out the x-ray which shows better coverage of the socket, also his walking is good, no sign of a limp and his movement feels solid, no shifting of the joint. He got in another consultant to look at all he had and they were impressed with the walking and the quickness he found a computer mouse!

We were told that we need to be vigilant for changes and any concerns with his movement we should get him in for another appointment. We will be back in three months to check progress and hope that there is no regression but the outcome of this visit is we are not treating but monitoring. I expect the monitoring will continue into his teens but it brilliant that we are brace free. Thinking back, we have done 11 months of bracing and Spica cast, this is almost half his life. Thank goodness it is over for now. Now for more sleeping through and learning to run and skip!

Cast free, Bracing for walking.

It has been a while since I have posted, family and work life has been stressful but not for hip reasons.

Squeaky is doing really well. The cast came off over four months ago. It was a day that proved to be tough but wonderful. He was very mobile in the cast and had got crawling in it down to a fine art.

We arrived to the clinic and of course there was the x-ray. Then into see Ms Bijlsma. She was very pleased with the position of the hip but the socket is still a little shallow. This meant while we were there Derek the Plaster Technician would be fitting Squeaky for an Abduction Brace to be worn at night (and naps but we agreed that the poor childminders could have a break) for three months.

Ms Bijlsma

Ms Bijlsma added her note to his cast and we went to get the cast off. We had headphones and a phone loaded with “Hey Duggee” music clips and two parents trying to make it as easy as possible. It was not as bad as previous times as the novelty of the having the phone given to him was a difficult thing to ignore. He was still very upset but that first cast free cuddle was wonderful, the weight difference was astounding.


Derek told us that Squeaky would be stiff and his skin would require extra attention for a while. His skin was discoloured and flaky, the likes from the plaster liner clear on his skin. He also was very smelly. As was the cast, which we took home!

Skin after the cast came off.

That evening after a long warm bath with his Dad, Squeaky tried crawling, such a little champion and determined.

We will not miss the plaster; it was the hardest part of this process so far, hard physically and mentally. Best core exercise I have ever done but draining. He has a longish scar to show for it and hopefully that is all!

We began bracing straight away, we have had a couple of nights where he got uncomfortable or it was way too hot to contemplate the long PG trousers
Over the next few days he started to commando crawl and gaining strength to crawl “properly”.
Over the past months he has moved from crawling to standing to confident cruising to toddling with something to push.
 At three months after the cast we had another check up with x-rays. The angles are slowly getting better but Ms Bijlsma wants him in the brace for another three months. She also felt that shoes would be a good idea to help with walking. He is 18 months old now, a little behind his peers but we are not concerned with that, he has moved from complete relearning crawling to cruising in three months.


Walking will put pressure in the hip too and help with the angles and forming the ball of his hip.
We are not out of the woods yet but we are getting there, next solid walking in his new shoes and running for the edge of the woods.

The final stretch

We are over three quarters of the way through this plaster journey.
I will admit to being well over the plaster. It is heavy and awkward; it is taking a physical toll on both Mr Gin and me. Mr Gin’s back is suffering and my hands are painful. The positive notes are Mr Gin’s biceps are bigger and I can do 30 second planks.

Squeaky himself is amazing and very resilient; he is crawling, commando style in the cast and getting into all manner of fun. We have started child proofing our cluttered older parents’ home. Moving all manner of bits and pieces and putting them away from prying and curious fingers. He also has recently learnt to flip himself from his belly to back, so strong!

We have found the whole thing a steep learning curve and were very thankful for those who shared their knowledge with us; we are passing on what worked for us.

Smell and nappies.

Leaks of wee are unavoidable, having a boy I think even more so.  Having use cloth nappies before this I found the waste hard! It took us a while to work out the size of nappy we needed. He was a size 4 and we started with 2s but settled for 3s when the swelling came down. Tip one is don’t buy nappies in bulk until you are sure you have the right size, too small or big both cause leaks.

When we had lots of leaks we were recommended adding extra absorbency through sanitary napkins or incontinence pads. This was not something I was keen to do, more waste and cost! We found we could add our cloth nappy boosters into the disposable nappies. I was thrilled with this as it solved our overnight night leaks along with waking him just before we went to bed for a nappy change and no longer offering bottle at night wake ups.  We also have the cot on a gentle angle at the recommendation of the hospital.

As Squeaky is a lad we discovered that making sure his bits pointed down was vital after a couple of astounding leaks. When you have to push the nappy up into the cast it is easy to drag his bits with it. This leads to weird situations and questions you never though you would ask your beloved when doing two handed nappy changes.

So, you can imagine the spica cast began to stink as we learnt all the tricks; we use febreze and Teatree oil to mask the smells. We have an added issue that Squeaky is scared of a hair dryer so we can’t dry it out like that. We mop up with dry flannels and then spray febreze on the nappies and Teatree on the damp cast. Tea tree oil is antibacterial so helps a lot.

We came home with a second disposable nappy on the outside and I quickly bought second hand cloth nappy wraps that have served us well keeping in the tucked in disposable in place. And of course they get febreze too!

Play and sitting.
We started with beanbags for sitting before Squeaky had his surgery and found them very helpful but difficult for him to play in. We got some lap trays but they are proved to be a little tough for a one year old. We still use the beanbags although we have to be careful of him wiggling out of it and flipping himself!

We have a cot mattress for the floor that makes it easier for him to lie on his tummy and he napped on early in the process but we have not used it that much.

What we have used a lot is a Spica Chair that we hired. Many people have one that family have made, we had a look on eBay for second hand one but there was none. The Royal London had a pamphlet with a link to the Smirthwaite Company who has a hire scheme. They are British owned company who make an astounding range of chairs and stuff for people with special needs. The chair has meant Squeaky can sit and play and  be comfortable (until he tips himself sideways!) It has been a boon since he started crawling as he can be contained for periods. I love to take it in the kitchen while I cook. I put his pots and pans on the table and he is chatty and throws them off when he thinks I’m ignoring him. It wasn’t cheap but it was half the price of buying one.

When we bought a high chair we researched one that would work for the Spica Cast, it is Joie Mimzie and it has worked well for us. Out and about we use a knee. There really are no other options and we cope fine with that.

Sleeping

Squeaky is a tummy sleeper and when he came out of surgery it became clear that we needed to get him comfortable and on his belly meant a lot of propping up with towels and blankets. When home that moved onto an Ikea pillow but it was a bit narrow. We used a variety of different things and it became clear they were all lacking, so I got crafty and made a pillow. A sort of Y shaped one. This has served us very well, it is narrow enough that his legs can hang and his tummy  supported and wide at the top for cuddling the pillow, it is not dissimilar to the way he sleeps on his parents.

I also looked at Sleeping bags for Spica casts and decided it was not a cost I could justify for three months so drafted a pattern and made one myself. Not pretty but it works!
We also have raised his cot to newborn level as he can’t sit to save our backs.

Clothing

We got given some Hip pose Tracksuit pants that are designed for Spica casts, for which I was very grateful for. With help from a friend I made a pattern and made some more exciting ones from cord and Jersey.  (Also I have had to repair the knees from Crawling.) We also have two dresses, dresses are awesome and great for nappy changes and show off his cute nappy covers! We used dresses in his Palvik and we were keen to do it again.
We also tried Marks and Spencer's Palvik trousers but they don’t go big enough for a cast but the high legged body suits are perfect and don’t stretch the legs. We also used body suit extenders on our normal bodysuits.

My only other hints are reach out for support, find people on line, talk to your friends, take your kid out, be prepared to explain the cast but get out. Take photos, I have written a hip journal for Squeaky in his future as my mum cannot remember my journey.   It is hard work, physically and emotionally and Mr Gin are looking forward to the end of it.

Let the spica journey begin

It has been two weeks since Squeaky had his open reduction at the Royal London Hospital.
It has been a roller coaster of a ride. 

We arrived at the hospital at 7.30 am with surprisingly chilled baby, even though he had missed breakfast.

We had met all the team. Dr Louis, the anesthetist, was amazing, calming and reassuring as Squeaky had a bit of a sniffle and said the operation could go ahead. Then Ms Biljsma and her team, we established the leg that required operating on and she seemed relaxed and happy. I said I was very keen on avoiding a femoral osteotomy. I know this was something that may have to be done but still wanted to avoid.
We were told we were first surgery and there wouldn't be long to wait. I took squeaky to theatre but we were sent back to the ward as there was no bed for when he came out of surgery.
In the end we didn't go to theatre till 11.30 am. Squeaky was very good and even napped although thirsty and hungry.

Surgery last 2.5 hours. I went to recovery, Squeaky was hooked up to a morphine drip and sporting a purple spica cast. It went down almost to his ankle on the left to just above his knee on the right. He was very upset but a mum cuddle soon sorted that out. He had a sleep in me as we waited for the ward nurse to come and get him.  Dr Louis popped in and said it went well. Then Ms Biljsma came in, she was very pleased, she said the hip went in better than she thought it would and that there was no need for a femoral osteotomy! I think a huge weight lifted at that point.

Sarah, the ward nurse arrived soon after and we were go to head to the ward. We collected Mr Gin on the way an and headed up with Squeaky in a huge bed and a morphine pump.

We got up on the ward and there was a visit from the pain management team and all the observations as well as Squeaky wanting to have cuddles. And with those cuddles as much as napping as possible.

We gave him food as soon as were allowed as he was starving. With food in his tummy he seemed more settled.

We played pass the baby and try to chill till after his dinner. Squeaky was really out of sorts and very much suffering with being doped up.  Mr Gin headed home to feed the cats and get some rest. I prepared for a night on an extendable couch.

Buckaroo on a dopey baby

It started okay, Clark settled and drifted off to sleep up kept waking. This continued with a lot of screaming and only sleeping on me. In the end it was decided to give him more morphine and some diazepam for muscle cramps. The spinal had worn off and he was very uncomfortable. He managed to pull out his morphine cannula which was a bloody mess but showed why they put two cannulas in babies, just in case they do that! It was a tough night being on a ward made it tougher.

The following day was a morning full of visitors, the pain management team, who where going to cut down his morphine with an eye for taking him off it. The OT fitted him into his buggy and gave me lots of information and was impressed with our organisation. A surprise visit from Dr Louis! The surgical team came in and agreed to make the hole around his bits bigger so we didn't have to fight to get the nappy in. The plaster technician was going to come and do this. Then for Squeaky, the best bit, Mr Gin arrived.

More cuddles, reading and playing happened. I went out for lunch and a bit of break while Squeaky slept and had lunch.

We waited for the plaster tech and got the morphine out. We then took Squeaky joy riding in his buggy! It became clear we were not going to see the tech so we had dinner and Mr Gin headed home.

I was a bit more prepared for the lack of sleep. We had some diazepam again but that hyped him up and he played peek a boo with himself for forty minutes! I managed to get him to sleep a little buy propping him up on his tummy. It was broken sleep after that and in the end I dozed on the couch with him wedge in but on me.

Mr Gin arrived early to rescue me and Squeaky played in the play room. We had a visit from the orthopedic team who chased up the plaster tech, Derek. Who some of you may remember for removing his other cast and fitting his palvik harness.

Once that was done it was a sign off from the pain team and the nurses and we could go home. I left the hospital about Lunch time and Mr Gin got Squeaky home for dinner.

A very long few days. More on the adventures with a small boy in a big cast soon.

Big hip, Little, cardboard box.

We have an operation date for Squeaky. The 5th of February. We have know a while but for a while it looked like we were going to have to move before the operation.

The end of October we had a consult with his Orthopedic Surgeon, Ms Bijlsma and I finally saw an x-ray. I really don't understand ultra sounds but I understood the x-ray. The left hip is obviously not in the right spot. The ball is forming slower than the right. The right is perfect thanks to the harness.

She explained the process and the slightly more extreme things that may happen. It is an open reduction, where the operate and move tendons and cartilage to coax the hip into place. One of the more extreme bits that may happen is a femoral osteotomy, which is where the femur is cut to release pressure on the hip joint. Personally I really want to avoid this as there chance of his legs being different lengths. Having grown up with a leg length difference due to a femoral osteotomy, I am very much hoping that we can avoid all this.

He will be in hospital at least one night with possibly up to four nights depending on how his pain levels are. He will be casted the same way as before, in a spica cast, waist to ankle on the left, waist to knee on the right leg. He will stay in that cast for 6 weeks, have it changed and then another 6 weeks. Squeaky will be curtailed but thankful as of this moment he is not really crawling and certainly not walking or even wanting to put weight through his legs, we are not sure if this related to the hip. Once he is out I am be wanting those little legs to working hard!

We are currently planning out what we need and how we will survive the 3 months. We have a bean bag and hopefully enough clothing to go over him and his cast. It is all starting to get real, I am doing my best to not to get nervous. We can deal with it comes but the build up is tough.

The Big Hip update, is I will be having surgery to sort mine when Squeaky is done. I have agreed that with MR Hutt.

A tale of two hips.

Hips, our lives recently have been revolving around these joints.

Squeaky had his closed reduction this week. It was long and ultimately disappointing day.
We arrived at the hospital at 7.30 after a very early start with a chilled baby, surprising considering he had missed breakfast. We got shown into the day ward and settled in with the standard visits from the anesthetist, surgeon and nurses with their repetitive but needed questions. We signed forms and Squeaky smiled at every one. We changed him into his huge hospital gown and waited to be called to theatre.

For reference, a closed reduction is when the patient is put to sleep and the hip injected with dye and x-rayed and then manually manipulated into place, and x-rayed to check the placement.  It is done under General so all the muscles are completely relaxed. Once the joint is in place the patient in put in a spica cast, a plaster cast from waist to ankle of the affected leg(s), knee on the other, for 12 weeks.  Sometimes a tendon in the groin is released (cut) to release the tension on the hip to stop it being pulled out of place.

I walked him to the theatre, no bed for him, just the comfort of mum’s arms. He was very interested in everything going on.  I sat in a chair, answered the questions as they made sure they had the correct patient. I held him as they put him to sleep, not a pleasant experience as he struggled against the mask and then went floppy. I had to hold my head back because the smell of the anaesthetic gave me some unpleasant flashes of the times I had smelt the same smell.

Mr Gin and I went and had some down time in the hospital restaurant. We went back and waited for the return of our small boy. The surgeon, Ms Bijlsma came to us in her scrubs and a serious look on her face. She was not happy with the procedure. Squeaky’s hip that felt stable was in fact very unstable and she was not convinced that the hip was in place. It looked good on the x-ray but she wasn’t that happy. She said she will order a CT scan to take slices of the hip from other angles to see if it is in place. If not then we would have to look at more invasive options. Not great news and we crossed our fingers it worked.

I went to get Squeaky from recovery; he was being nursed by a nurse whilst he screamed. I held him and tried to settle him, the poor possum was in a strange place, in a cast and hungry.  We got back to the ward, he was still screaming, I pretty much squashed the suggestion of offering him water. He was hungry and needed comfort. So juggled him around and fed him, the cast made him heavy and awkward. The feed settled him and he went to sleep on me, we changed parents as beds and then got him to sleep in the cot.

I took him to the CT scan in the stroller/buggy and he was starting to be his normal self. Mr Gin had gone to get some fresh air and lunch. Squeaky was chilled in the CT scanner and we returned to the ward to wait.

Ms Bijlsma arrived and the look on her face said it all. It had failed, the back of Squeaky’s hip socket is flatish making it difficult to stay in place. Poor Squeaky, going through all this for it not to work.

The next step is an open reduction, more invasive using surgery to ‘fiddle’ with the joint and tendons and fat to get it to stay in place.  Then into a Spica cast, again.  This cannot be done till he is one. I can remember my final open reduction, I was six. My heart breaks for Squeaky.

We took him off to have the cast removed, another situation that bought back a lot of memories. I am so glad we had not taken the Ear defenders off the buggy.

Finally, we took out little boy with his stitches from his tendon release, home. He was super cuddly and clingy the following day as we managed his pain and generally rallied together.

Before Squeaky’s operation I went and introduced Mr Hutt to Squeaky and we discussed my thigh pain which has not disappeared. I am having a CT scan this week to work out what our next step is and if I want to have surgery to fix the issue.  At this moment it is going on the back burner a bit because Squeaky is the priority.
For now, we are going to do a lot of swimming while he is cast free.

In other news, we are running a fund raiser for the hospital that treated Squeaky on the Isle of Skye, Info here: Fund raising for MacKinnon Hospitial

Adventures in a Palvik Harness.

It has been eight weeks since Squeaky went into his Palvik Harness.
It has been a steep learning curve and also lessons in empathy with my mother.

We learnt early on that pee socks are important with little boys when trying avoid getting pee on a harness you are not meant to take off. We have got very good at wiping him down instead of bathing him. Although this comes more problematic when there is a nappy explosion. More so if you are getting ready to out to a party and you are in your favourite party clothes. Note if you pick up a baby have the legs their babygrow squish under your hand. Call in reinforcements and all wipes you can manage. That particular night was a two person job and taking velcro off and sponging off poo was not as fun as it sounds!
We found dresses work really well especially with the tricky nature of nappy changes, to be fair nappies have been the bigest challenge.
Squeaky himself is pretty happy, he kicks his legs like a footballer and is happy.  Holding him feels odd and you have to careful of where his legs are and we are no longer comfortable sitting in the rocking chair which is annoying.

Our first check up had been delayed a week and we arrived to a doubly busy clinic. Squeaky was scanned and it was felt that his right hip was improving but the subluxated left hip had not. This was gutting news. We took the harness of there and Squeaky was smelly, he had not had a bath for three weeks. We booked in the next consultation, feeling very sad and lots hugs given. Mr Gin and I headed home, with a smelly Squeaky, on a London bus in our own bubble of silence as we absorbed the news. On the way home one the surgeons we had spoken with rang, she had compared Squeaky's initial ultrasound with the one taken that day and said there was a small improvement. She asked that we come back in two days and get Squeaky fitted into a Harness again. We agreed.

We took him home and gave him a much needed bath. He was not all that happy as he stretched his legs out but the bath soothed his legs.  Out of the harness he felt tiny and delicate to hold.

We returned to the hospital, early in the morning, to be refitted. Squeaky was a delight, smiling and giggling and proving that he is resilient by not changing his behaviour over the next two weeks as we settled back into harness routine. We went back to the hospital in two weeks and had another check, again they felt there was minimal change but compared the ultrasounds there in the clinic.  They left in the harness and off we went, knowing that there was improvement but it was very slow and we were looking at  a possible three to five months in the harness.

We had got good at removing the harness by watching the professionals and marking the harness. This meant Squeaky got a bath once a week and when we had a poo explosion a quick wash. A little more civilised.

We went back for the seven week check last week. Again another ultrasound with minimal change. Two surgeons went off and compared the four ultrasounds. The right hip is looking like a normal hip but the left is showing minimal change. It is still subluxated. They recommended that Squeaky come out of the harness and he is booked in for a closed reduction.

The closed reduction will occur in July. They will inject a dye into the joint and manually manipulate the joint into the right position. They check if there is ligament pulling at the joint, if it is, they will cut it. Then they will put him in a spica plaster cast, that goes from his waist to the ankle on the affected side, knee on the other. This is done under general anaesthetic.

We are currently harness free and having to do another wardrobe exchange as a lot of the clothing that went over the harness swamps him now.  He is happy, chirpy self although the first night home in pain due to his legs stretching out.

It has taken me a week to write this because the escalation of Squeaky's treatment is upsetting. I am disappointed the harness didn't work, guilty that my genetics have bred so try and frightened about putting me precious little boy through this. He will be six moths old and having a general anaesthetic, scary. I really hope this works because I don't want him to end up like me and able to remember treatment because it went on so long.

Right now I am trying to focus on enjoying my delightful little boy and introducing him to his Australian grandparents. After they go, we focus on providing the best care and outcome for Squeaky, his hip and long term health.

A new hippy family

Late Janurary Mr Gin and I had a bright, gorgous boy. He was born via a fairly uneventful c-section besides the theatre staff stopping to check out my hip replacement tattoo. It was a spinal procedure and Mr Gin was there by my side and got to cuddle his boy pretty much straight away.
We were home within 24 hours of this process and plunged into the chaotic world of new parents with an almost helpless tiny human with an incredibly loud and wide vocal range.

We have had our highs; solving why he is crying through the process of elimination, finding he is photogenic all the time, cuddles, gurgles and smiles, watching him grow and take notice of the world. Finding all sorts of things adorable including when he has the hiccoups and then squeaks. For this reason, for the purpose of this blog, his name is Squeaky.

We have had some lows too, we have had a struggle with breast feeding which has been very much helped by the resolution of a tongue tie but it took a while to gain back the weight Squeaky lost during those first few weeks where he was not getting enough food. We found this process very tough, me because I was the food source and Mr Gin because he sat through a lot, and I mean a lot, of crying, from me and Squeaky. Mr Gin's incredible support and amazing parenting as well as the wonderful support of the infant feeding team at Homerton we are on track with Squeaky's weight and he is feeding very well. But that was tough and I suspect just a taster for the tough times ahead raising a kid.

This blog has always had a hip focus and I really though that would disappear with the birth of Squeaky when in hospital his hips were checked and declared stable.  We were booked in for a six week ultra sound scan of his hips, an additional check that is done for children with possible contributing factors such as a genetic predisposition and his late breech presentation.

So, I fronted up to the six week scan, not overly concerned and with a relaxed, well fed baby, so he could be stripped down and covered in clear gloop.  I chatted with the staff and as there was a genetic history listed, they asked about my history. Cue mildly horrified faces. They looked at Squeaky's hips and found them to be shallow, not a surprising outcome and I had done research and spoken with Mr Hutt so was prepared with names and hospitals.

Homerton were not taking any chances, they knew my history so instead of waiting till eight weeks they referred Squeaky to the One Stop Baby Hip Clinic at the Royal London Hospital. Both the radiographer and the Paediatrician agreed that this was the best course of action even though most likely over cautious.  Mr Gin and I were very happy with this and waited for the referral to come through. The Royal was a suggestion from Mr Hutt.

The referral was quick and we went to the long name clinic before Squeaky hit 8 weeks old. The paediatric imagining centre at the Royal London is new and swish, bright colours and laser cut plastic bones in geometric patterns. We arrived with a number of other parents with little babies waiting for the clinic.

Doctors began appearing, and Squeaky's name was called and off we went. Squeaky's hips were scanned by a doctor and observed by the head orthopaedic surgeon. I was fairly cool about the whole process until the doctor doing the scan said "That one is not in". I asked her to repeat the statement. His left hip was shallow and almost out to the socket, not sitting well. His right socket was shallow also but in the correct position.

We then dressed Squeaky whilst it was explained that Squeaky was going to being fitted with a Palvik Harness that day and that the harness had a 95% to 98% success rate in cases like Squeaky. We were to come back in 2 weeks to see if the the harness was working and the minimum time in the harness was 6 weeks and maximum was 3 months. The options after that point are a little more dramatic.

We waited for two hours for the fitting, when we got there Squeaky was fitted with something that looks like a costume from the Fifth Element. It holds his legs in the correct position to increase the depth of his sockets and coax the left one into the correct position. He charmed the staff who fitted his harness as he did not cry and was smiley and giggly. We took our little crunched boy home, feeling a little shell shocked.

We had wine that night. Being aware that we could have a tough night as he got used to the harness, we sat and cuddled our little lad. I spoke to my mother about the outcome and she was very supportive as she had been in the same position 43 years ago. In the end my father had the correct reaction to it all, that it was disappointing, we were all hoping that Squeaky would not have my bad hips. I was upset and Mr Gin was his standard sensible self, saying it is what it is and we will cope and it is not as bad as it could be.

The next day I went shopping for clothes to go over his harness because his current wardrobe won't fit over his harness. We felt that dresses would be an easy option and he went shopping with me in a dress I wore as a child! I bought baggy trousers, dresses and baby grows with openings at the bottom and not from the neck to ankles.

Squeaky himself has not shown any issues with the harness being very smiley and happy most of the time, no real change in behaviour including the first night when he slept really well, totally bucking the warnings the staff gave when we left the hospitial.

We are still coming to terms with this outcome and hoping that our visit next week shows that the harness is working and Squeaky only has slightly dodgy hips and not his mum's really dodgy hips.