Hip, hip, hooray!

Skye and I spent the majority of the day today at Sick Kids. We went to have her orthopaedic hip harness installed. I’d managed to shove the fact that she had to get this thing far into a dark corner of my mind for a couple of weeks, but finally had to face facts today that this was happening.

After registering for ultrasound, I began chatting with another mother in the waiting area. Her daughter is 4 months old and they were there for Ortho clinic. Turns out her baby also needed this harness and was currently wearing it. Of course I began grilling her about what it’s been like and what difficulties it has posed.

It did not sound fun. It holds a baby’s legs permanently up in “froggy” position and protocol requires that it not be removed at all for the first five weeks. She had to acquire all new, much larger clothing for her baby.

I thought glumly about all of Skye’s cute outfits that I would have to retire. Superficial? Yes.

She told me that she had decided to follow a protocol of “23 hours a day” – in order to change and bathe her baby normally. I decided that I would do that too.

We went in for the ultrasound at around 11:45. The ultrasound technician was unusually forthcoming about what he was seeing on the images. He told me, basically, that he didn’t really see much wrong with Skye’s hips. Hmmm.

I took my babe downstairs to clinic and fell into an administrative vortex as I waited in line for over an hour to register. I ask you. How? Is all the the information chiselled by hand on a stone tablet? Sent between departments by carrier pigeon?

I love the people. But I hate the system. As 2:00 approached I was feeling pretty sour. And we were finally called in.

The doctor came in and said, “So her hips look great!” I did a cartoon double-take. Sorry, what was that?

Her hips are all fixed. No need for the harness. The extra three weeks was all she needed. See you again in 7 months.

Somehow she managed to resolve the problem all by herself. It must have been all that lounging around on the hot and sunny beach in Turks and Caicos. (Yes, our holiday happened. More on that later.)

I have had the rather negative feeling lately that breaks are few and far between for us. And I really, really, felt like I needed one like this. All relieved and happy here tonight.