Jonny went in for his checkup for his hips a couple days ago. He has a ‘bilateral hip click’ or hip dysplasia where the ball and socket joint of the hips are not quite together.

At our last visit the orthopedic surgeon recommended we wait 6 months and then bring him in for surgery to physically resocket the joints since his harness did not work. It had worked for one of his hips, but at the last visit both hips were loose again.

He wanted to wait 6 months for the hips to develop more. He called it a ‘flat socket’ where the socket would not encase the ball part of the joint. Since his previous checkup however, he recommended that since the joints had developed enough to feel a “clunk” when he rotated them, he should put them in place as soon as possible. Which means he goes in for surgery on Tuesday. *Yikes!*

After surgery, Jonny will have to be casted for 6 weeks, then the cast will be changed and he will be casted again for another 6 weeks putting the E.T.A. for getting the cast off around Christmas.

It makes me sad because Jonny has such strong legs. He has been pumping them up and down, doing ‘squats’ while holding our hand, kicking all the time. After 12 weeks of no movement, they are going to atrophy to where he was as a newborn. I guess it’s better that we are doing it now instead of at 6 months. when he is trying to become mobile and then will have to learn it all over again.

I am dreading the day of his surgery. We cannot feed him for 6 hours prior to the surgery and can only feed him water at 3 hours before the surgery. The surgery will last an hour and he will have to recover in the hospital for an additional 5 hours which means he will be without mama’s milk for 11-12 hours although he will have an IV (more shots) keeping him hydrated.

Starting that morning He will be ONE CRANKY BABY. He usually eats every 3-4 hours and will eat 3-5oz per feeding, but right now he is eating 4-6oz every 2-3 hours and has an insatiable appetite. I think he’s going through a growth spurt…an unfortunate time to be casted in my opinion.

And Mama is going back to work a week from Saturday so we get to start our schedule juggling just when he starts his casting. We do have someone to help us although now changing his diaper will involve tucking his diaper into the cast using possibly a range of recommended materials from adhesives to maxi pads (I have already decided I would rather fashion my own version of a diaper out of duct tape and kleenex than ever resort to using a maxi pad on him).

We have given up on establishing a sleep schedule for him as it will all be out the window after Tuesday. We’ve been trying to put him to bed at between 8-9pm…However, he falls asleep now around 1am and after feedings at 4am and 8am, will wake up for good around 10:30-11 am.

I imagine he will be even more agitated with not being able to move his legs, not to mention the chafing, itching, and discomfort from surgery which spells sleepless nights and a liberal use of pacifiers, rocking, sleeping on our chest and all-out spoiling.

*sigh* at least it will be done soon.

God grant us courage, strength and endurance and give Jonny the peace and comfort to get through it.