Hi everyone
Where do i begin? Well my name is Andrea. I have 4 children - 3 boys
(14 yrs,11 yrs & 4 1/2 years) and a daughter, Lottie, 10 months.
Lottie was born on 26 October 2003. Though I dearly love my sons I
was so pleased to have a daughter. She had her checks and we were
told everything was ok, I think they were more concerned about her
palate (during scans in pregnancy, as well as physical exams) as my
third son was born with a bilateral cleft lip and palate. From the
start we found Lottie very demanding, she seemed to cry endlessly
unless she was being held.We had problems with breast feeding, for
some reason she just couldn't get the hang of it, my first 2 were
totally bf and I expressed for Peter for 3 months (because of his
cleft he couldn't suck). I was very upset that I couldn't bf Lottie,
I hadn't imagined it would be a problem at all! Anyway, at lottie's
7 month check the health visitor examined her and compared the
length of legs, one was shorter! We were referred directly to the
children's dept at our local hosp where they dropped the bombshell
that her left hip is dislocated. A week later Lottie was having a
scan and x-ray (in fact she had 2 x-rays because she put her hand on
her hip during the first x-ray!!). We saw the consultant briefly and
he referred us to Great Ormond Street. It was very scary to hear him
say! We've been referred to Mr Jones and will be meeting him next
Monday 6 September. I hope it will actually be him that we see - the
appt letter says it may be a member of his team! I seem to spend my
life at hospitals!! I am not looking forward to it and wish this
wasn't happening to mine or anyone elses baby! Peter's cleft is bad
enough but though he will be having surgery untll he's 17/18 (he's
had 4 ops so far, 3 for his cleft and one for a hydrocele) it isn't
constant and intense for a long period of time. I honestly can't
imagine how we will cope. Also, Peter starts school next Tuesday and
I really don't want to be away from him. The others are older so it
isn't quite so bad. Sorry this is such a long intro! I'm so worried
about everything. At least I've found you all!
Thanks for listening, Andrea