Molly's Hip and Molly IS Hip

During Molly's 9 month well visit at the beginning of June, her pediatrician suspected some hip instability and gave us an order for a hip x-ray. We were supposed to leave the next morning for vacation and she said just to get the x-ray done when we got back. We did, and last Friday she called to say that the x-rays showed that Molly had hip dysplasia (explained here) on the left side. The next step was to make a visit to the orthopedic surgeon to have things explained and talk about treatment and we did that today.

So here's the deal...
In Molly's case, her hip is not currently out of socket but rather the socket is too shallow to house the "ball" of her leg bone for any length of time so it needs to be fixed before she develops any further. This happens mostly in girls (check), mostly in first-borns (check), and mostly in breech births (not us). The treatment is this--while she is under anesthesia they will perform an arthrogram (an injection of contrast material into the joint allowing them to see the soft tissue surrounding the bone), then they will position the ball in the socket and cast her hips in a spica cast (a lower body cast that goes from her waist down both legs and keeps her in "horseback riding" position). The surgery is non-invasive and she will only be kept overnight. She will be in said cast for 6 weeks at which point they will repeat the arthrogram and decide if she needs another spica cast. This will happen in 6 week increments until her hip instability is resolved. While in the cast, the bone will constantly be applying pressure on the socket forcing it to reform around the bone creating a deeper, better fit (my humble interpretation of the doctor's explanation). We are waiting to hear about dates for treatment. He wants to get her scheduled within the next three weeks.

Great and wonderful things:
*God is in control!
*Molly's sweet spirit and repeated displays of resilience
*Our ortho and our urologist know each other and will be in communication about each other's procedures concerning Molly. Her urology surgery will likely happen between casts.
*She won't remember any of this:)!

Please pray for:
*An easy transition (for all of us) from mostly-mobile-Molly to mostly-anchored-and-uncomfortable-Molly
*Smooth, steady procedures and wise, focused doctors
*Healing in one 6 week period
*Quick "catching up" on skills that will be delayed due to the cast

God has big plans for Molls...He's getting her all ready for them!

Thank you for your prayers on behalf of our dear baby!

Ashleigh and Ryan

UPDATE:
Molly's closed reduction hip surgery has been scheduled for Tuesday, July 6th at 8 a.m. We also had a follow up (from January) appointment with her urologist today. He said that since she is urologically stable at this point (no UTIs since October, doing well on her current antibiotic) the hip surgery trumps his surgery in terms of urgency. He will reevaluate her via cystogram and ultrasound after she is both out of the spica cast and a year old (September 1st). He thinks that surgery is still inevitable at this point but he said things can change between now and then. Please join us in praying specifically for that change!

We will be leaving this afternoon (possibly tomorrow at this rate!) for a previously scheduled trip to Kentucky to see my parents and be back by Monday to prepare for Tuesday's surgery. Thank you for praying!

UPDATE #2:
Hello Friends,
Thank you so much for the messages, texts, calls and most of all the prayers for us today. Molly's surgery took place at 11 a.m. this morning after being bumped a couple of times for other emergencies. I was holding her by 1 p.m. and, though she hadn't eaten since 9:30 p.m. last night, she was still waving at the nurses and even managed a smile...God knew just what we needed for comfort that everything is indeed going to be just fine. She's done as well as can be expected since she's been out of surgery and Ryan and I are rapidly learning what it takes to care for a "hip baby".

The doctor reported that the dysplasia was in fact in the left side only (yay!) and that she will definitely need at least one more cast after these six weeks are up. Because of the condition being one-sided her right leg is only cast to the knee (another yay!) instead of to the ankle like her left leg. She gets quite upset when she tries to move and realizes she can't and looks to Ryan and me with a "help me" face that is just heartbreaking but I know that it will become easier and easier as the days go by.

A Happy Father's Day

I think Ryan had a great first father's day yesterday...Molly was especially sweet and dadcentric all day long (we had a talk ahead of time) much unlike her behavior on mother's day...go figure! She started by presenting him gifts...a charcoal storage caddy and a book rather symbolic of the subject matter of the day:

Molly in the charcoal caddy

Helping Daddy unwrap
A sweet card and good new read, "Molly's Debut". I secretly can't wait for her to get old enough to sound out the title. I'm hoping for "de-butt".

After church we went to pick out a grill to go with the charcoal (our other grill died) and went to Elevation Chophouse for a special lunch with a view (it's at the airport). The food, service and experience were a total disappointment. But the company was not!

Molly made sure her dad had a great time!

In awe (looking at Ryan)

And we rounded things out with a visit and dinner with Josh, Tad and the kids who just happen to live a short hour away as of Friday! Ryan got to use the new grill and it was great to spend time with family! Swaylor's getting so big! She and Molly hanging out in Molly's room:

The girls laughing hysterically at Jadyn:

I'm so thankful for all the fathers in my life. Happy Father's Day!

Molly's First Swim

On Memorial Day we headed down to Tyrone, Georgia to spend some time with great friends. Doreen and Tim have recently moved into a new house with a pool which always makes for great entertaining. Better yet it's a saline pool instead of chlorine...why isn't this the way ALL pools are??? Better for your skin, better for your hair, better for babies, just plain better.

Our first family picture in awhile...
This was Molly's very first out-of-tub water experience and she acted like it was no big deal.

We, however, acted like idiots:). You know, using those high-pitched excited voices that are tell tale of baby doing something new and special.

She began to really dig it though and kicked those feet and ferried her float all over the pool.

She loved being in our arms in the water and she loved the taste of the saltwater.

Splashing with Daddy

They set up a baby spa poolside for the little ones and she of course thought that was the cat's meow! Just like the bathtub only better! She and Anna playing together...or at least playing close to each other:)

Watering the important things...

So sweet:)

Hanging out with Mommy

Molly and Mary in their red, white, and blue

The Scardinos Swim

On Tuesday Ryan, Molly and I made our way over to Karma and Mark's neighborhood to support the Meadowgrove Dolphins in their first meet of the season. The path to the pool happens to be in the Scardino's back yard and Mark hung homemade "Go Dolphins" signs to show people the way. The whole neighborhood was there (and I mean the whole neighborhood!) plus most of the rest of Marietta and about 50% of the student population of ECS. Mark was the grill master for the event and Karma made us a yummy supper of sandwiches, potato salad, chips, fruit and brownies.

Maggi and Molly enjoyed being parked next to one another...it especially facilitates toy sharing (or stealing)!

When we got there the Dolphins were having a group meeting. I found Sammy and Marci in the crowd. Their neighbor, Janie, is to the left. They did their Dolphin chant and then came to wait with us for the numbers to read "11" and "12" for their events. This was all new to me...the swim meet lasts for 80-something events!!!

Maggi and Molly takin' it easy.

Sammy and Marci geared up in their Dolphin-wear for their first swim meet ever!

Sophi keeping everyone entertained...

Getting focused for the race ahead

Pensively waiting...so grown up!

Marci was slotted to go first and she wasn't quite sure she wanted to go through with it. The coaches were so nice in encouraging her when she backed out at the signal. Sammy was next and was such a trooper...he had to swim 25m, the entire length of the pool! See his race HERE and his post-race thoughts HERE. Marci was able to try again in the 23rd event and she was awesome! It was a relay event so she had to wait for her teammate to get to her end of the pool before jumping in. See her swim HERE and her post-relay thoughts HERE.

We are so proud of them! If you could have seen them just last year you would never believe they could make it across the whole pool! Great job guys! Keep it up! We love you!

One more video just for funsies.