It's been a while...you may want to grab a snack! (a long post)

Well, it has been a long time since I posted anything so I am going to try to do better this year. We'll see how it goes. I'll start with a little bit of a "catch-up."

Alot has happened this year already and it's only the middle of February! We welcomed Madeline Jane into our family on January 3, 2011! What a wonderful way to start the new year. She is a beautiful, sweet and happy baby and has just fit right into our family.

I have gone back to work which has been so hard & yet nice to be back to the routine and normalcy. I just LOVE staying home with the girls and would definitely stay home if I could, but I am very blessed to work in a great place with great people, which makes going back that much easier and better.

Onto other not-so-exciting happenings. I'll start at the beginning for this one...

Since Miles was a little baby her left leg has been shorter than her right leg (she has a little limp when she walks). At all of her pediatric appts. I was told that it was fine and that she was developing normally. Well, at her 4yr check-up, we saw a new Dr. who referred us to Campbell's Clinic to have her looked at by an orthopaedic specialist. We went for that appt. and our worst fears were realized.  Miles has Developmental Dysplasia of the Hip (DDH) in her left hip. She was born with it and if it were caught then she would have been put in a brace which would have held the hip in the socket and it let it grow properly.  Since it was not diagnosed, she will have to have an "open reduction" surgery to basically put the hip back in the socket and will have to kind of carve out her socket as it is too shallow to hold the bone in place since one has never been there before. It will be at least a 4 hour surgery (with 2 surgeons working on her) and she will then have to be in a body cast (spica cast) for 6-12 weeks depending on how well she heals. She will not be able to walk or be mobile at all during her time in the cast to allow scar tissue to form holding the hip in the socket.

We found out in late November 2010 the diagnosis and the Dr. said that we needed to go ahead and do the surgery before it gets warm outside and before she starts kindergarten in August (They can only do the surgery up until age 7, after that there is no surgical way to "fix" it. You just have to wait and pray they can make it until they are old enough for a total hip replacement in adulthood.) She had her MRI, CT Scans and X-rays while I had been on maternity leave (when Madeline was 3 weeks old) and she did great! She was such a big girl and didn't even cry when they started the IV in her little hand. The surgery has been scheduled for March 2, 2011 at LeBonheur in Memphis.

Frank and I are praying for peace and that the doctors and everyone that will be working with our sweet Miles to be guided by our Lord. We know that God is seeing us through this all and that He has a plan that is for good. Through all of this I am constantly comforted by  Isaiah 41:10 "Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand."

We ask that you keep us all in your prayers as Miles goes into this surgery. We pray for her to make it through the surgery with no trouble & for the surgery to be successful and to make her hip better. We pray that she will heal quickly and adapt to being in the body cast as well as possible. I pray that we are able to keep her comfortable, entertained and that Frank and I retain some sanity through this and while taking care of Madeline Jane (who will be just 8 weeks old when Miles has surgery.)

I am going to try to update more often and chronicle this time in our lives to be able to look back a year from now and be able to say that the surgery and healing went better than we ever could have dreamed and that her surgery time and casting time are all a distant memory.