Hi Andrea

I hope everything goes well for you and Lottie. Every
case seems to be different, so it's difficult to say
what treatment she will have. However, it does seem
to be that the earlier the problem is detected, the
better, so it's good that it's been found so soon.
My daughter Grace was diagnosed with a dislocated left
hip when she was 5 months old. She had to have a
closed reduction, which is where they put the hip
joint back in under general anaesthetic but without
surgery, and then was in plaster from her chest to her
toes for six weeks! This was very traumatic for me,
but she adapted brilliantly and slept well the whole
time. She spent her first Christmas propped up on a
bean bag, giggling the whole time. After the plaster
came off she had to wear a plastic splint all the time
for 3 months, then just at night for 2 more months.
The treatment worked well, but she still has check-ups
as her hip sockets are shallow and she may have to
have further treatment when she is about 5.
However, she started school today, so I can appreciate
how you're feeling! Just keep in touch - there are
lots of us who have been through it!

Best wishes,
Hazel

--- andreajean65 <andreajean65@...> wrote:

> 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
>
>




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