How Things Are Going

I just found a really great website about hip dysplasia in babies. It answered a lot of my questions about Peanut's future. So if you are wondering what it is she and we are going to be going through, check out Hip-baby.org. She has unilateral hip dysplasia, so she will be getting the 1.5 spica cast. The last I heard, the leg cast will be down to her toes, but that was when she was going to have the surgery right after her knee and foot surgeries, so that might change. I also know already that she'll be getting at least a femoral osteotomy. For definitions, check out the site.

We are the walking dead around here. She is just not happy unless she is sitting in one of our laps, with the phone or the remote control or some other intricate piece of equipment in her hands. I wish I liked to watch TV more, because then we'd both be happy. She doesn't sleep well, even when drugged up on her pain meds, resulting in sleepless nights for all of us. I took the nights when T. had to work last week, and he is taking them on the weekends. I had 5 total hours of sleep in two nights with no nap last week.

There have been some bright spots. Her brain really seems to be clicking lately. She's identifying ears, nose, eyes, and mouth by pointing. She knows the kitty in the book, the stuffed kitty, and her real kitties are all the same. She pointed to the baby in her book, and then pointed to herself, as well as pointing at me and at the mama in her book. She's not anywhere near talking--it appears she's going to be a late talker like I was--but she makes humming sounds in conversational tones, with a specific hum for Hello, another for the cat, another for Up. She puts the pieces of her shape puzzle in the right spots even when you mix them up. She knows how to turn on the TV with the remote, and how to speed-dial Grandma on my cellphone. We also got a small glimpse into her dreams recently. While napping, she suddenly opened her eyes wide, reached out her arm and starting waving bye-bye. Then her eyes closed and her arm dropped, and she was back sound asleep. Who knew?

The other bright spot has been the moms in the mother/baby group I am a part of. It really has become a group of friends now. Some of them got together to pay for some meals to be delivered to us, which was a great help when T. went back to work and I was too tired to get dinner together for us. Others have loaned us clothes. Peanut is the smallest in the group (though she's catching up). The month before her surgery, she outgrew all of her old sleepers, so rather than have me have to buy clothes that she would only wear for the next few weeks, one mom loaned me a bag of her son's outgrown sleepers. Another one loaned us a bag of dresses that she can wear with the casts, because she can't wear pants. They have all offered moral support and wonderful friendship, and I can't believe I got so lucky to meet them.

Of course, the other friends and family that are not a part of this group have been fantastic too, as well as the people online that have given me amazing support and encouragement. We are enormously blessed, not just with a lovely daughter but with the people who love us.